Stark's Security Situation
by tpt player 5701
Summary: Tony Stark returns to his Tower after seeing off Thor and Loki, and decides to upgrade his security. But nothing seems to be working, until Tony has a stroke of inspiration. "JARVIS," Tony said, "do you remember a few years ago Stark Industries was working on an automated security system project? What about that?" "Sir, do you mean the 'VISION Project?"
1. Chapter 1

AN: This story includes some references back to my first story, "Avengers Plan B." Most of the references are explained fairly well, but you will get more context if you read that story first. You do not need to read the other story to understand what's happening in this story.

* * *

After seeing off Thor and Loki in Central Park, the Avengers disbanded. Steve Rogers decided to explore the country and see how things had changed over the past 70 years. Agents Barton and Romanoff chose to spend some time at their favorite shared safe house, in Key West, Florida. Tony Stark, meanwhile, had convinced Dr. Banner to spend at least a week exploring the tower's research and development labs before returning to India.

When the two scientists returned to Stark Tower, JARVIS informed them that James Rhodes had set up in workshop #3 to make some minor repairs to his War Machine suit. Ms. Potts was in the Stark Industries office working on a proposal to donate money to the Manhattan Relief Fund, and had requested not to be disturbed. On hearing that, Tony immediately directed Bruce to workshop #3 to introduce the scientist to his best friend.

"Rhodey!" Tony exclaimed as the doors opened with a beep. "What did you do to my suit yesterday?"

"_Your_ suit?" Rhodey asked with a grin, striding over to clap his friend on the back with a grease-stained hand. "I seem to recall you saying this was _my_ suit. I foolishly dropped a building on myself trying to save a family from getting pancaked."

"How'd you manage that?" Dr. Banner asked incredulously.

"I was helping a couple members of my team rescue this family from their damaged building," Rhodes answered. "The building shifted in my grip before they were clear, and we had to hustle to get the civilians out of the way. I just didn't move fast enough. Fortunately, no one was injured too seriously."

"Rhodey, this is my new friend Dr. Bruce Banner," Tony interrupted. "Bruce, Lt. Col. James Rhodes, also known as my sidekick."

"Sidekick? Man, I am _not_ your sidekick; in case you haven't heard, Director Fury seems to like me," Rhodey said with feigned injury.

"Yeah, well just because you're leader of the other team doesn't make you any less my sidekick!" Tony laughed.

Rhodey snorted to hide a laugh, and turned to the other man in the room. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," he said, extending a hand.

"Likewise, Colonel," Bruce said, taking the offered hand with a smile.

"Bruce here is the Big Man from our team," Tony grinned. "He should have a shirt that says 'My Other _Body_ Can Play Catch with Your Other _Car_!'"

"I'd rather not advertise that, Tony," Bruce responded, embarrassed. "I don't think people around here have forgotten the last time I was in town."

"What happened?" asked Rhodey.

"I… um… kinda broke Harlem last time I was in New York."

"You did that?" Rhodes said with confusion. "The National Guard commander mentioned something about that yesterday, though he seemed to think _he_ was responsible for that incident."

"Don't tell me General Ross is in the City," Bruce said with a groan, stepping back from the military man nervously.

"That's the one," Rhodey answered. Seeing the other man's reaction, however, he went on, "Don't worry, I'm not telling him you're here. Actually, the guy seems to have fallen apart since the incident: He's gone from being a Special Forces general to a National Guard general, and it doesn't seem to be agreeing with him."

"Yeah, I got that vibe," Tony remarked. In answer to the confused looks the others gave him, he added, "Coulson asked me to talk to him after the Harlem incident about attaching Captain Emil Blonsky to the Avengers Initiative."

"Why on Earth would S.H.I.E.L.D. want that Abomination to be an Avenger?" Bruce spat out furiously.

Tony shrugged. "Don't know, didn't ask. It didn't work out, and anyways I'm glad we got you instead of him. When I talked to him, the General was about a bottle of vodka in and looked like he hadn't been sober since the incident."

"He was in about the same condition at the briefing yesterday," Rhodey acknowledged.

"Well, I'm going to leave the two of you to talk for a bit," Tony said, clapping his hands together and moving toward the door. "Before doing anything else, I need to consult with JARVIS about this tower's security. Someone left the front door open yesterday for a megalomaniacal alien demi-god with daddy issues to set up an E.T. phone on the roof and I want to find out who!"

"So Dr. Banner, you'll have to tell me about your research into gamma radiation. I read one of your papers a few years back about your super soldier experimentation while doing research for a promotion," Tony heard as he left the lab. He walked over to the elevator and rode it up three levels to his personal lab. On the way he ordered JARVIS to pull all the security information from the previous morning when Loki had arrived at the Tower.

When he walked into his personal lab, Tony instructed JARVIS to begin playing the security feed and narrate to him what had transpired and how the security system had responded.

"Sir," JARVIS began, "you can see Loki's approach on screen 1, showing the basement loading dock cameras." Tony nodded as he watched a nondescript delivery truck pass through the basement security checkpoint without incident. The driver held a set of papers out the window, the computer scanned them, and the gate opened. The truck drove through, reversed, and pulled up to the loading dock backwards.

JARVIS continued, "The truck Loki used was painted to look like our scheduled delivery of building supplies from the contractor. The driver had the correct identification papers. As such, the truck did not raise any red flags until it pulled into the loading bay." The time stamp jumped a couple minutes as JARVIS fast-forwarded the feed. The screen next showed four men dressed in black combat uniforms jumping out of the back of the truck. Automated security systems kicked in when the men's weapons were identified. A pair of machine guns descended from the ceiling and turned to point at the men as the loading bay doors began to close automatically. Two gunmen were shot in the head before the others could destroy the security guns. Loki exited next and blasted a hole through the doors with his staff.

"Why didn't I receive a warning alert as soon as that happened?" Tony asked angrily. "I thought our standard security procedure was to alert me first, then NYPD, and finally S.H.I.E.L.D. in the event of a security breach."

"That is correct, sir," the A.I. answered. "However, Loki activated a wireless signal jammer the moment that the door opened and the truck's occupants were identified as intruders. The jammer was powerful enough to reduce my wireless transmission abilities to a radius of 10 yards from the tower, rather than the entire globe. Unfortunately, when we took the tower off the grid, we also removed all ground lines out."

"Continue," Tony instructed. He glanced at the second screen as that security feed activated. He watched as the two remaining soldiers, along with Loki and Dr. Selvig, moved through the tunnels from the loading bay to the freight elevator, dragging the portal device behind them on a hand truck. The four intruders approached the interior security checkpoint, where the door had already been barricaded with impenetrable bulletproof blast doors. The hallway behind them was closed off immediately as well, trapping them inside. The machine guns planted in the wall activated, killing the last two gunmen before turning toward Loki and Dr. Selvig. Before they could fire on him, however, Loki melted them to slag with his spear. He then turned the spear on the blast doors, melting through them in an instant.

"From here on, my security cameras show Loki and Dr. Selvig taking the freight elevator to the roof and setting up the portal device," JARVIS said, as the other view screens showed footage of Loki walking through hallways with Dr. Selvig pushing the hand truck behind him. "We do not currently have any active security measures in the rest of the tower."

"Remind me again why our only active security measures are at the entrances to the building and not spread out more," Tony said, shaking his head.

"You will recall that when we designed the tower's security systems we determined that spreading out the security throughout the building would be cost prohibitive compared to placing preventative measures at the entrances and cameras throughout," JARVIS responded. "As such, our security measures are designed to prevent armed groups from entering the building, and identify and monitor potential corporate espionage threats. The security checkpoints which Loki blasted through were designed to withstand assault teams using anything less than a rocket launcher. Also, our security measures in the rest of the building succeeded, strictly speaking: They were intended to allow me to keep tabs on the intruders, which they did."

"If success means allowing a demi-god to phone home and invite a million of his closest friends to crash our planet's party, count me out!" Tony said sarcastically.

"Very well, I shall make a note of that in your calendar, sir," the A.I. responded equally sarcastically.

"Why did I design a sarcastic A.I.?" Tony grumbled. Louder, he said, "What are our options to prevent this from occurring again?"

"Our first option is to hire security guards for the Tower," JARVIS answered promptly.

"No," Tony said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to trust them with my security. Security guards can be bribed. They can betray us. They can be killed. Security guards would not have stood a chance against Loki. Besides, they would not be able to cover every area of the tower, since so many areas are classified. Next?"

"Our second option is to cover the tower with counter-assault measures which I control: Machine guns and other weapons covering every hallway, knockout gas in the elevators, lockdown doors every few feet."

"Tempting," Tony said, thinking hard. "But I think we still have to say no. Repairing the tower is going to be crazy expensive as it is, and turning the tower into a giant bad guy death trap would easily cost more than the repairs! Besides, some threats are just too unlikely to prepare for all of them. I mean, to protect from everything, we'd need rocket launchers in all the restrooms and mines in the air ducts! Next?"

"Perhaps you could ask S.H.I.E.L.D. to provide securi—"

"Absolutely not!" Tony interrupted. "I do not want S.H.I.E.L.D. snooping around this place any more than they already do, and I don't want my security people reporting to Cyclops. Plus, I don't want to owe Fury anything; I still don't trust him. Oh," Tony suddenly remembered, "that reminds me. Hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and look for any information on the Avengers Initiative. I want to know everything."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS answered. "The process may take several hours." The A.I. was silent for a moment as it processed information. After a minute, JARVIS said, "Sir, I am at a loss for other viable security options."

Tony sat down at his workbench and put his feet up. Without being asked, JARVIS activated a hidden door in the workbench, raising a chilled beer from the hidden beer cooler. Tony grabbed it and mindlessly took a drink. He put the bottle down and clasped his arms behind his head. He stayed in that position for several minutes with his eyes closed to think. Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he sat up in his chair. "JARVIS," he said, "do you remember a few years ago Stark Industries was working on an automated security system project? What about that?"

"Sir, do you mean the 'VISION Project'?"


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Wow, this story has more followers after one chapter than my first story got after 17!

For the die-hard comics fans out there, I know that Vision was created by Ultron, who was created by Hank Pym, and that Vision's brain patterns are modeled after those of Wonder Man and that his body is that of the Original Human Torch. However, if Marvel chose to introduce Vision using the comics' origin story, it would take at least 2 or 3 Ant-Man movies, as well as possibly one to introduce and kill off Wonder Man. Marvel has shown that the movies are not entirely beholden to the comics for the heroes' origins (Hawkeye's and Black Widow's movie origins are both (so far as we know) very different from the comics, along with slight changes to Iron Man and Thor's origins). The idea behind this story is to introduce Vision into the movies with far less hassle.

That being said, I don't own anything except (so far as I know) the story idea. Reviews are welcome!

* * *

"Of course I mean the 'VISION Project,'" Tony answered. "It's perfect. It gives us a security system that can go anywhere in the building, respond to any threat, and does not need a security clearance. It will be wired into your systems, giving it access to all security camera feeds and active security systems to monitor and neutralize potential threats. We can place it loosely under your ultimate control, but it will have an advanced artificial intelligence system to make its own operational decisions. That way it would not be deactivated if you were forcibly taken offline. If you are unable to communicate with me in the event of an attack, as with Loki, the android would be able to leave the tower to find me and get help."

"But sir, the 'Variable Integrated Security: Identification, Observation, Neutralization' System is not ready for implementation," JARVIS argued.

"So what do we still need to do to get it ready?" Tony asked pointedly.

"The project was placed on hold indefinitely before it even moved past the idea phase. As of now, the VISION Project file contains nothing but an undefined automaton body with undefined defensive weapons," JARVIS responded.

"Bring up the project file and move it off the Stark Industries server onto my personal server," Tony commanded, standing next to his holographic work station. A holographic representation of a blank humanoid appeared in front of him. "Looks like they were trying to use one of my dad's old World War II-era automaton projects as a base. They didn't get far enough to put in an operating platform, huh? Let's start by replacing the original HT Mark-I body with the Mark-VII Iron Man suit as the base platform." JARVIS made the appropriate change. The body was replaced by the red-and-gold Iron Man armor. Tony immediately tapped the screen to change the android's color back to a muted silver. He started pulling things off the armor platform; life support was the first to go (for obvious reasons).

"It's like I would have myself for a bodyguard this way. Little too confusing. Plus, he looks a little too much like a robot or a guy in a suit. Nah, I don't like the shape of it, or at least not for a covert security android," Tony amended. "Make him a couple inches shorter than me with a slight build. Place his circuitry and other systems inside the suit to conserve space. Give him a human head instead of a helmet.

"He's already got all the weapons from the Mark-VII, but I don't really want his armament to be a clone of my suit. Bring up all of our weapons options on the side." The work station showed a menu with every weapon in the Stark Industries database. Tony pulled the laser attachments off the suit and discarded them, along with the leg-mounted missile launchers.

"This will have to do for now; we'll look at armament again later.

"JARVIS, do we still have proprietary ownership of Pym's formula?" Tony asked next.

"Yes, sir," the A.I. responded immediately. "Although Dr. Pym's pension plan stipulates that he continues to receive substantial royalties for every use we make of his Particles."

"Well, we may as well help fund his retirement a little longer. Give the android Pym Particle-infused plating. I remember a couple years ago our biochemical engineering R & D department succeeded in altering Dr. Pym's formula slightly so that we could manipulate the mass of atoms, rather than just an object's size. Using the altered particles is fatal to living creatures, so we can only use them on non-life-forms, but this enables the object in question to increase or decrease in mass and density rather than size. Since he has the standard flight system from the Iron Man suit, he won't necessarily need the plating to fly, but it will give him vastly enhanced strength as well as the ability to 'phase' through objects and walls," Tony rattled off the benefits to his computer.

JARVIS made the appropriate alterations to the holographic projection. Tony pulled the holographic image off the workstation and expanded it to full size. He spun it around as he admired his handiwork. Isolating the weapons systems showed that the model now possessed shoulder-mounted missile launchers, a wrist-mounted missile launcher, and standard flight stabilizers in its palms.

A wave altered the view to highlight the android's armor and protection system. The exterior layer was made of gold-titanium alloy, giving it the same standard protection as the Iron Man suit. The Pym Particle infusion in the plating increased the android's armoring by giving it the ability to manipulate its mass and density.

Highlighting the electronics showed that the increased computer systems to store the android's artificial intelligence fit snugly into the unoccupied space inside the "suit." The Mark-II ARC Reactor was hidden behind an access panel inside the android's chest.

"What if the android gets damaged in combat?" JARVIS asked.

"Mark-III repair nanobots," Tony answered immediately. "Give him a supply of nanobots for repairs. We also have the Slicebots, so give him some of those for computer hacking."

"Very well, sir," JARVIS said. "But don't you think a silver android wandering the Tower would be a rather obvious security measure?"

"Good point," Tony answered. "He needs to blend in. He should be unremarkable enough that people don't take a second look at him when he walks around. But he also needs to be memorable enough that people get used to seeing him around. He needs to have enough of a personality that those who talk to him would not realize he is not a real human, but not so much of one that casual people would try to get close to him. Most of those in the building work in offices, so he should probably be wearing a suit… Son of a bitch," he said, realization dawning in his eyes.

"Sir?"

"I know exactly how to make our badass security android into an _unremarkable_ badass security android," Tony said with a grin. "Place a white dress shirt and a black suit and tie on the VISION." JARVIS added a suit. "Okay, now color his face and hands with the skin tones of a normal Caucasian male, with a few natural-looking wrinkles. Now for the hair: Give him a balding head of dark brown hair. Eye color: Blue."

After making the appropriate alterations, JARVIS said, "Sir, is he supposed to look like—"

"Phil Coulson? Absolutely," Tony answered without waiting for the A.I. to finish the question. "The guy could literally blend in anywhere on the planet with his unassuming 'Guy-in-a-suit #8' look. But at the same time, the guy was one of the bravest people I've ever known." Tony fell silent for a moment. Taking a deep breath he continued, "I can think of no one better to model my unassuming badass security android after than the unassuming badass S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who took on Loki singlehandedly and made the ultimate sacrifice doing it."

"Very well, sir," JARVIS responded. A picture of Phil Coulson appeared next to the VISION hologram as JARVIS altered the facial features to more closely resemble those of the recently-deceased S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Further modifications made the VISION a virtual twin to Coulson's silhouette and measurements. At an additional command, JARVIS covered the VISION with simulated artificial skin in the correct skin tone.

"You know what, JARVIS, add another weapon to the VISION's arsenal," Tony ordered.

"Do you have something in mind, sir?"

"Do we still have those plans for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Phase 2 weapons that we downloaded on the helicarrier?"

"Yes, sir."

"Find that weapon that Phil was using when he got killed," Tony instructed. "It was based on an Asgardian golem drone-thing that attacked Phil in New Mexico last year."

"I have found the appropriate plans, sir," JARVIS said a moment later.

"Good. Now I want the VISION to have a forehead-mounted version of that gun. Give him a conventional sidearm in a shoulder holster, also."

"A forehead-mounted alien flamethrower, sir?" the A.I. asked incredulously.

"Phil mentioned a while back that when he was in New Mexico, Loki sent an Asgardian security android to kill Thor. In addition to enhanced strength, the android's single weapon was the ability to fire an intense beam of sun fire from its face. It seems appropriate to me for _our_ security android to have a similar ability, especially since Phil seemed to like that gun so much."

"Very good, sir." JARVIS said. The lab was silent for several minutes while the computer worked on altering the design, adding a focusing crystal in the hologram's forehead as well as the systems to create the "sun fire" effect. A few minutes later, he said, "I have made the appropriate changes to the VISION platform. Are you sure you want this android looking like Agent Coulson, sir?"

"As sure as I've ever been of anything. I want to be able to always remember Phil Coulson for the badass fighter he was; this seems like the best way to do it."

"Very well, sir," the A.I. acquiesced. "But do you really want the android to ruin his cover the first time there is an emergency?"

"No, I see your point," Tony responded. "All of this work to make him look unassuming would be wasted if he had to break his cover every time he needed to act." He thought for a minute before speaking, "Give him a disguise uniform under his suit if he needs to face a security breach, let's say green with yellow boots, gloves, and lower torso to differentiate him from my suit. Perhaps have his facial pigment grow darker as well. Design the business suit to retract into a compartment in his back when needed."

"How does this look, sir?" JARVIS asked after making the appropriate alterations.

"Perfect," Tony said approvingly. "Now we need to see about giving him a personality."

"Sir?"

"All of my artificial intelligences and robots have their personality modeled after someone I know," Tony explained. "I modeled your personality after my parents' butler when I was growing up, Edwin Jarvis. He was always very kind to me and helped me find my way around. He also had a wicked sense of humor! Dummy over there is modeled after my lab partner from MIT; he was about as helpful in the lab as Dummy is!"

"And let me guess: The VISION android's personality will be based on Agent Coulson?" JARVIS guessed.

"Exactly," Tony replied with a grin. "Upload Coulson's personnel file into VISION's memory bank, along with every interaction he had within your sight here, in Malibu, or at Stark Industries. If you can access S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security cameras, find every interaction Coulson ever had on the helicarrier and upload that into VISION as well. We'll alter our standard A.I. program's personality subroutines to model them after Phil."

A moment later, Tony had another thought. "JARVIS?" he asked.

"Yes, sir?"

"Does Phil's file say anything about weapons and martial arts proficiency?"

The A.I. thought for an instant before responding. "It says that he is proficient with all conventional firearms, ranking 'Marksman' on all his most recent proficiency tests. It also says that he has black belts in karate and judo."

"He needs a particular fighting style. Program those skills into the VISION's artificial intelligence system; an A.I. marksman might even be able to give _Barton_ a run for his money!"

Tony looked at the hologram in front of him for a long moment. The humanoid in front of him looked almost exactly like Agent Phil Coulson. With a wave, Tony altered the view to see both of the VISION's guises side by side. He nodded in approval.

"Synthesize it," Tony instructed.

"Manufacturing the hardware will take approximately 6 hours, by which point I should have the personality information we need from S.H.I.E.L.D. uploaded into the artificial intelligence's personality subroutines," JARVIS responded as the manufacturing systems in the back of the lab hummed to life.

"Let me know when the body is complete and ready for programming," Tony said, heading for the lab door. "I want to go see what kind of trouble Bruce and Rhodey have gotten into without me!"


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thank you to all those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. I'd love to know what people like about it in the reviews.

I'm not making a statement here on whether I think Coulson actually died. There are plenty of ways he could have survived. In order for this story to happen, however, Tony only needs to _think_ that Coulson actually died.

* * *

Six hours later, Tony and his two friends had retired to the partly-destroyed penthouse. Tony lounged in his favorite armchair with a glass of brandy, while Rhodey sat in the middle of a couch with a beer and Bruce nursed a glass of wine on another couch. Pepper was working late that night: The phone had been ringing off the hook with reporters looking for sound bites, people calling to thank Iron Man, and even a few people calling to complain that Iron Man had smashed their cars. However, Pepper had been able to contact their contractor, who had agreed to send a couple workmen to start removing the debris from the penthouse. The workers had finished an hour earlier, so the three Avengers were left alone in the room.

"…and so I'm standing there with my back to the wall of this tiny thatched hut, surrounded by sand, and there's a hundred militiamen with their guns pointed at me. The Somali warlord walks through his troops and gives me this arrogant look, like he's already beat me. He tells me, 'I'll give you a choice: You come with me right now and deactivate the suit, and I won't kill you; I'll just use your suit as a pattern to make my own. Otherwise, I blow your suit sky high with you in it,' and indicates a pair of RPG launchers in the crowd of AK-47s," Rhodey was saying.

Tony laughed, "Wait, you're wearing an armored suit that can withstand anything less than a nuclear explosion, and he's threatening you with RPGs?"

"It's like the guy is completely clueless!" Rhodey answered with a cocky grin. "So I just shrugged, activated my mini-gun, and popped a round off in the guy's head. Before his body had even hit the ground, I'd already activated my mini rocket launchers and taken out both guys with RPG launchers, along with the other hundred soldiers. I literally did not have to lift a finger!"

Bruce smiled and said, "You know, I remember doing some work in Somalia shortly after I went on the run. Dangerous country, especially for anyone trying to help people."

"Did you have any trouble there?" Tony asked.

"Well, one village I was in happened to be the regional warlord's favorite target. When he found out there was a doctor trying to patch up all the people he'd shot, he sent a squad to have me executed." Bruce paused for dramatic effect before continuing with a grin, "It didn't exactly work. To this day I still don't remember what happened, but the soldiers had me kneeling with the barrel of a gun to my temple between two huts, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the warlord's burning compound surrounded by dead AK-47-wielding soldiers, and a tank with Hulk-fist-sized dents in it is lying on its side by my head. The village didn't look that bad, apart from a destroyed hut or two, but that was one time no one was upset that the Other Guy showed up; that particular warlord was never heard from again!"

Tony and Rhodey both burst out laughing at that. "You know," Tony said, leaning forward in his chair, "maybe that's what we should do to bring about peace in Africa: Forget about Iron Man and War Machine going over there and kicking some ass; We'll just threaten to drop the Hulk into their compounds!"

Bruce laughed softly but said, "No, I don't think I would like that. After yesterday, I think I could live with transforming if I don't have any other choice and it's to save the world, but you can't use the Other Guy as your nuclear deterrent."

"No, I should say not," came a voice from the door. "Last time the Hulk was loose in the States it took S.H.I.E.L.D. _weeks_ to sort out all the paperwork!"

Bruce and Rhodey stared at the figure in the doorway in shock. Agent Phil Coulson walked into the room and smiled. "Good evening, gentlemen. Missed me?"

"No," Bruce said, standing up abruptly and holding his hands up defensively. "No, you can't be Agent Coulson. Coulson is dead; we were at the memorial service this morning and saw his body."

"Surprise," Coulson said, putting his hands up in a shrug and smiling.

"No, you must be some sort of an imposter," Bruce said, starting to get angry. His eyes suddenly turned bright green, and his arms started quivering with pent-up energy. "What are you up to?"

"Bruce?" Tony asked hesitantly. "Everything's okay, buddy. There's nothing wrong here, so there's no need to get angry…"

Bruce fixed a green-eyed glare on Tony and shouted "Imposter!" With a ripping sound, Bruce's shirt and shoes ripped away as he grew and expanded as he transformed into the Hulk.

Rhodey, meanwhile, had merely been watching what was happening with a bemused expression. When Bruce transformed, however, Rhodey rolled over the back of his couch in surprise. He watched Tony activate his bracelets and summon his marginally-repaired Iron Man suit to himself through a window from the lab ten floors below.

The Iron Man suit formed itself up around Tony's body in a matter of moments. He stepped between the enraged Hulk and the Coulson doppelganger, and put his hands out to placate the angry green monster. The Hulk took one look at the red-and-gold metal man in front of him, grunted, and swung a massive arm at him, throwing Tony across the room, where he collapsed in a heap atop the now-demolished bar.

The Hulk turned his gaze against the fake S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent standing in front of him and roared. "Coulson" looked back into the beast's eyes without flinching. Suddenly, Hulk's massive green right fist shot out at the man. Before it connected, however, "Coulson's" suit retracted into an opening in his back, revealing a green body with boots and abdomen. The skin-toned synthetic material over his face retracted into his forehead, revealing a dark red face. A pair of gold gauntlets formed themselves around his skin-toned hands. The Hulk's fist connected with bone-breaking force against the green chest—and nothing happened: The torso was not dented in any way, and the android was not pushed backward even the smallest bit. The Hulk's face contorted in confusion as he looked at the "man" in front of him.

The Vision swung a density-enhanced fist at the Hulk's shoulder, connecting with crippling force and pushing the beast back several feet. The Hulk let out an angry growl and swung his left fist against the imperturbable man in front of him, but the fist traveled straight through the Vision's chest, throwing Hulk off balance. Vision responded immediately by shooting sun fire from his forehead, knocking Hulk back away from him. The beam of fire went wild when the Hulk fell away, melting through a window and setting the penthouse TV, two paintings, and a couch on fire.

The Hulk rose somewhat shakily to its feet and leapt at the Vision. Vision activated his missile systems, firing a spread of missiles against the Hulk. Several went wild, hitting the wall behind the Hulk and detonating, sending debris flying. The rest connected with the Hulk's chest and face. He fell in a heap and threw his arms up to protect against the flashing explosions. Vision quickly rose into a hover and landed on the Hulk's back. As soon as he landed he redeployed his suit, returning to his Agent Coulson appearance and sitting down on the Hulk's back. Before the Hulk knew what was happening, Vision had activated his Pym-Particle-infused plating, increasing his mass to ten times the Hulk's weight and pinning the beast to the ground on its chest.

Tony pulled himself up from the floor and mindlessly started to dust off his suit. Rhodey rolled bemusedly into a sitting position next to the couch. The two friends looked at each other and the additional destruction surrounding them in stunned disbelief. After a long moment, Tony shook his head and started pulling off the pieces of his further-damaged suit, leaving them in a small heap at his feet.

"JARVIS," Tony began, "didn't I order you to let me know when the machining was done on the VISION android?"

"Yes, you did, sir," JARVIS answered, "and I attempted to alert you for a full thirty minutes after the machining process was completed. However, you also expressed a strong interest in upgrading the tower's security systems as quickly as possible. As a result, when you did not respond to any of my attempts to inform you that the android was complete, I chose to fulfill your wish to upgrade our security quickly. Because you had already told me how to write the android's A.I. program, I was able to do that while waiting for the machining to be completed. When I realized you were not paying attention, I uploaded the VISION android's program files to the newly-constructed body and brought it online."

"And you didn't think to _warn_ us before sending him up?"

"I did try to, but the three of you were too busy telling war stories to pay attention to the 100-decibel disembodied voice yelling at you from the ceiling!" JARVIS responded sarcastically.

"Fine, I guess I may have had a little too much to drink tonight and not been paying attention," Tony conceded. "And I did want to have this security android online as soon as possible. But that doesn't excuse scaring the Hulk out of Dr. Banner!"

"Very well, sir," JARVIS acquiesced, "From now on I will increase my volume to 1_50_ decibels before loosing any artificial intelligence hounds on you."

Ignoring that last comment, Tony noted, "The VISION did very well at stopping the Hulk." At that moment, the inventor took a more careful look at the fresh destruction that the large green monster and super powered android had wrought on his damaged penthouse and considered for a moment. "Although," he began, "if Bruce is going to be hanging out here for a while, we need to add that adamantium-tipped Hulk Buster tranquilizer missile to the VISION's arsenal just in case. Make that an interchangeable missile for his wrist launcher."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS answered immediately. "I have made the appropriate modification to the plans for its wrist-mounted rocket launcher, and I will make the appropriate alterations tonight during the VISION android's scheduled maintenance cycle."

"Tony?" Rhodey's voice asked waveringly from the floor on the other side of the penthouse. "What the hell just happened?"

"Rhodey, this is the 'Variable Integrated Security: Identification, Observation, Neutralization' System, also called 'VISION,'" Tony answered, gesturing toward the android sitting on top of the shrinking Hulk. "Going over the information from yesterday's security breach, JARVIS and I identified a number of holes in our security which allowed Loki to set up shop on our roof almost without opposition. This android is our solution to those security holes."

"Why does this thing look like Agent Coulson?" wheezed the now-human Bruce. As soon as he heard Bruce's voice, Vision deactivated the Pym Particle enhancement, stood up, and held out a hand to help Bruce to his feet. With a wary look at the unassuming-looking android, Bruce accepted the outstretched hand and pulled himself up.

"When Fury told us, me and Rogers, that is, that Phil had been killed, I was seriously pissed," Tony began, walking over to where the other three were standing. "I couldn't understand why he would have gone in there and tried to take on Loki by himself without backup. At first I thought he was being stupid."

Tony sighed and shook his head before continuing, "As I was working on designing the VISION android, I realized something about Phil. He was actually one of the bravest men I have ever known. He died doing what he believed in, and he was not afraid to face down an alien demi-god while holding an untested weapon he'd never used before. That's how I want to remember him, and what better way to remember how much of an awesome badass he was than by modeling my awesome badass security android after him?"

"I suppose that makes sense, Tony," Bruce said with a nod and a further appraising glance toward the android, "but from what Agent Romanoff told me, you had better keep him away from Barton; considering how close those two were, the guy might rip your new toy to pieces if it catches him off-guard."


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks to all those who have followed this story. Review and let me know what you think!

* * *

"Tony, I'm home!" Pepper called out as soon as the elevator doors opened on the penthouse level. "You'll never guess who I found wandering around down on the Stark Industries management floor this afternoon: Phil Coulson! Amazing that he was just standing outside my office, especially after he was here just last week. I asked him to stay for dinner, honey."

"Pepper?" Tony called out warily from his place in front of the penthouse's new television. "_Who_ did you meet?"

"Phil Coulson," the redhead answered happily, practically bouncing as she walked into the room. "I wasn't expecting to see him again so soon, especially since S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be really busy with the clean-up after the battle two days ago. But, here he is! You'll have to tell me all about what's been going on lately; Tony has been incredibly vague ever since the battle," she said to the man standing next to her.

"Coulson!" Tony said awkwardly, getting up from his chair. "What are you doing here?"

"I just happened to be in the area and came over to see how your repair work is coming along," Phil Coulson replied, giving Tony an amused smirk when he saw the other man's nervousness. "You still haven't gotten those Loki-sized dents out of the floor yet, I see." He started rattling off the information from the morning S.H.I.E.L.D. bulletin: "The relief work has been progressing well, although the city's hospitals are still full of injured civilians. We have been very busy keeping all of the different private contractors, National Guard units, and volunteer organizations busy and out of each other's ways. So far we've made a serious dent in the rubble scattered around the city, but all of the alien bodies and technology have been creating a serious logistical nightmare for us because we can't trust non-S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel with removing them for fear that something will fall into the wrong hands and cause trouble for us in the future."

"Oh, I can see why that might be a problem; that alien technology could be pretty dangerous if bad guys got their hands on it," Pepper said, knowingly. She laughed, put her hands up, and added, "Not that I know anything about that!"

"Agent Coulson, is there any way I could talk to you in the other room?" Tony said to the other man, gesturing toward the kitchen.

Phil Coulson nonchalantly followed Tony into the kitchen, where Tony turned on him and practically yelled, "Why are you stringing her along like this?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Stark?" the android responded with a knowing smirk.

"_I_ know that _you_ know exactly what I mean," Tony said angrily. "She got close to Phil over the past year and a half when he was acting as the S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to Stark Industries and Iron Man. She trusted him like she doesn't trust anyone outside of me, Rhodey, and Happy."

"I know; you programmed all of that into my memory, remember?"

"Did I also program you to impersonate Phil to those who knew him?"

"Sir, you programmed me to blend into my surroundings by giving me Phil Coulson's personality and memories. You even programmed me to respond to the name 'Phil Coulson.' If someone who knew Phil Coulson treats me like Phil Coulson, my programming dictates that I should treat them the same way that Phil Coulson would have. I can't help that you have not told Ms. Potts the truth yet," the android answered calmly.

"You don't understand. I'm afraid of how she will react when she finds out what happened. Finding out that Phil is dead will be hard enough for her; finding out that I created you to look like him might be too much for her to handle," Tony said.

"Didn't you know going in that if I was going to be the tower's supplemental security system, then I was going to meet Pepper at some point?" the android asked pointedly.

"Yes, but I didn't expect your programming to cause you to impersonate the real Agent Coulson and trick her into thinking you're him," Tony said angrily.

"Wait, what's going on in here?" Pepper asked from the doorway in confusion. A moment later, when she realized what she had just overheard Tony saying, however, her hand flew up to cover her mouth. "Did you say that Phil Coulson's dead? Then who is this?"

"Pepper," Tony said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture, "I know I should have told you sooner, but I've just been too busy the last two days to find the time to tell you."

"Tony, what's wrong?" Pepper said fearfully. "You're scaring me."

With a sigh, Tony began explaining to Pepper what had happened on the helicarrier. "The time while I was 'consulting' for S.H.I.E.L.D. this past week, I was working with our other guest, Dr. Banner, to track down an alien demi-god who was trying to take over the planet. We captured him and put him in a prison cell in the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, but apparently that was actually part of his plan. His people attacked the helicarrier, nearly made it fall out of the sky, and broke Loki out of his containment cell. Phil went to try to stop him, but he was too late. Loki distracted him and snuck up behind him and stabbed him through the heart. Pepper," Tony said gravely, stepping toward his lover and taking her hands in his, "Phil is dead."

"What?" Pepper said, wresting her hands out of Tony's grip and bringing them up to cover her mouth in shock and horror. "No. No, it can't be true. No."

Tony reached out again and pulled her into his arms. She tried to pull herself out of Tony's grasp, hitting his chest with her fists, but he held on tightly as she broke down crying in his arms.

"What about his girlfriend?" Pepper asked, looking up teary-eyed from Tony's shoulder. "The cellist who just moved back to Oregon. Has anyone talked to her yet?"

"I think Director Fury said that S.H.I.E.L.D. was handling notifications for all of the dead agents' families," Tony said. Seeing the look Pepper gave him, however, he quickly amended, "but I promise I will call him tomorrow and make sure that someone is notifying her, and that they will do it gently."

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath and letting it out. Having calmed down, she looked past Tony into the kitchen, finally remembering the "man" standing in the middle of the kitchen staring back at her with a tiny smile and an all-too-familiar face. "Tony," she said with forced calmness, fixing her gaze on him sternly, "if Phil Coulson is dead, then what is Phil Coulson doing standing in our kitchen?"

"Pepper, I would like you to meet our new 'bodyguard,'" Tony said nervously, something between a smile a grimace on his face. He loosened his grip on her and gestured toward the android. "Do you remember the VISION project which a couple Stark Industries engineers were working on a few years ago?"

"Of course I remember," Pepper answered. "One of our security guys, Land or Lang I think it was, had this idea that we could design a robot to integrate with a building's security system as an added level of security. A couple of the engineers took that idea and created a project file for it, but that's the furthest the idea ever went. Why?"

"Pepper, meet VISION," Tony said proudly. "Yesterday afternoon, while you were in the office, I took a look back at how Loki had gotten into the tower. I realized our security was adequate for many common threats, but not equipped to handle every possibility. So I took the VISION project file and… finished it to act as an added level of security. I patterned it after my Iron Man suit, but gave it a few modifications to make it more unique, some things I think Phil would have liked. JARVIS programmed him to emulate Phil Coulson's personality."

"JARVIS did?" Pepper asked knowingly.

"Okay, JARVIS did the actual programming, but I told him to," Tony acknowledged with a grin.

"Tony," Pepper said seriously, "why did you make him look like Phil?"

"Pepper, when I found out that Phil was dead, I was angry at him for going in there outgunned and without backup. He had no chance of beating Loki by himself, even _with_ a massive prototype alien weapon in his hands. And yet, he did go in there. For us, to try to keep Loki busy long enough for someone to come and capture him, and to keep Loki from escaping and hurting any of us. Pepper," Tony said passionately, "I remember last month when I had to go deal with that North Korean group attempting to create a version of my armor. I was away for a week trying to track down all the engineers and destroy all of their working prototypes before they could bring them online and try to use them against America. A whole week I wasn't here to protect you. Today I looked back at the tower's security footage from that week. You didn't tell me that while I was gone a team of hit men tried to break into the tower and capture you to use as leverage against me. I saw on the footage that Phil happened to be here because you had invited him over for dinner, and he fought them off singlehandedly. They had him outnumbered and outgunned, but he didn't stop until they'd been arrested and you were safe, even after taking a stab wound to the leg. And looking at his file, that kind of bravery was the rule with him, not the exception. Phil may have been one of the bravest men I have ever known, since he did all of that without super powers or a metal suit. I know I can't always be here to keep you safe, but now that we have a robot with Phil's bravery and determination and fighting abilities in charge of the tower's security, I know you will always be safe, even if I'm not around to protect you."

"Tony," Pepper said hesitantly, surprised by the uncharacteristically passionate outburst, "I didn't realize just how protective you were of me. I'm grateful for your concern; I admit I will feel a little better when you're not around if I know someone's here to protect me, even if it isn't you. But, Tony, I don't know if I can get used to having an android who looks like a dead man walking around our tower."

"Ms. Potts," the android spoke up from the kitchen, stepping toward the couple at the doorway, "I hope my appearance does not alarm you or disconcert you; I assure you that it the last thing I would desire to do. While I am not Phil Coulson and could never replace Phil Coulson, I am programmed to think like him and have many of his memories. I can tell you definitively that he thought very highly of you; not the least because you have managed to put up with Mr. Stark's antics for over 10 years, and have singlehandedly run his company for at least the past year and a half. I'm sure Phil Coulson would be content with this use of his appearance, personality, and abilities if he knew it was being used to protect this building and the people he cared about inside it, even after he's gone."

"Well, I guess if I could get used to the A.I. butler, robotic lab assistants, and routine explosions, having a dead man wandering the halls shouldn't surprise me too much," Pepper said with a faint smile, wiping her tears away with the back of a hand. "But can I call you something other than 'Phil'? It just doesn't seem right to me," she explained.

"Of course, Ms. Potts," the android responded, holding his hand out to her. "You may call me 'Vision.'"


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I do not own the Avengers, or Vision for that matter; Everything but my story idea (so far as I know) is owned by Marvel Comics.

I'm glad so many people like and read this story. Let me know what you think of it and any ideas for it in the reviews.

* * *

"Mr. Stark, what the hell is this?" demanded an angry voice from the penthouse elevator. A tall black man in a dark trench coat wearing a black eye patch over his left eye stormed into the penthouse without waiting for an invitation and fixed his one good eye on the man lounging on the couch. He came to a stop in front of Tony Stark and folded his arms with a glare. Behind him trailed Agent Maria Hill with an equally upset look on her face. The cause of their consternation followed them over and looked at its creator in amusement.

"It seems that my appearance at the tower's entrance startled Director Fury," the VISION said with an amused laugh.

"No as much as it did Bruce, at least, right?" asked Tony with a concerned glance at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director.

"He didn't try to blow me up with the pocket-sized RPG launcher in the left front pocket of his trench coat in the lobby, make me break my cover, and panic the civilians if that's what you're asking," the android replied glibly, "though he did pull a gun on me as soon as we were in the elevator."

"Are you going to tell me what happened, or should I have JARVIS pull the security feed," Tony asked pointedly, making a mental note to do just that as soon as his visitors had left.

"Director Fury has some very impressive moves, but I managed to disarm him without anyone getting seriously injured," Vision answered with a shrug, gesturing toward a bullet hole in his suit directly over where his heart should be. Tony noticed that there was also a hole melted through the fake skin on his forehead, revealing the focusing crystal underneath.

"Yeah, he disarmed me, all right," Director Fury said, shifting his glare between the android and its creator. "If by 'disarm' you mean 'melted my gun into a lump of unrecognizable slag with a beam of alien sun fire from its forehead after my bullet bounced harmlessly off its chest.' But Mr. Stark," the Director continued, pulling his backup sidearm from his ankle, "unless you've made your suit skintight and invisible, or else begun manufacturing Kevlar Iron Man T-shirts, _you_ do _not_ have bulletproof shielding on right now, or the ability to disarm me before I fire." He fixed the android with a glare, at which it bowed its head slightly and took a small step backward. Clearly it did not consider Fury to be a threat any longer. Satisfied that the creation would not step into his confrontation with its creator, the Director looked back at Tony. "Now I'm going to ask you again: what the hell is this?" He pointed at the supposedly-dead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent standing to his left without taking his eyes off the man fidgeting visibly on the couch in front of him.

Tony sighed, gestured to the android standing by the couch, and said, "Director Fury, meet my newest security measure. Rather than hire a human security team after the attack, I decided to design a robotic security agent, who has proven to be much more reliable. The 'Variable Integrated Security: Identification, Observation, Neutralization' System has gone from a nebulous idea to the latest in Stark security technology overnight. He operates independent of the tower's traditional security system, giving him the ability to respond to threats that our built-in security system is not equipped to handle, or in situations where the security system has been taken offline, such as alien demi-gods setting up shop on the roof. However, he is also wirelessly connected into the traditional security system, giving him eyes everywhere in the building and a constant connection to JARVIS. He has the weapons and combat capabilities to deal with any threat, and as you can see, his cover allows him to fit in anywhere in the building, as long as he doesn't get attacked by startled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Oh, and before you ask," he added as an afterthought, "I'm not making one for you. Like the Iron Man and War Machine suits, he is not for sale. He is the only one in existence."

"I understand all of that, Mr. Stark, but why does it look like Phil Coulson?" the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director said, staring at the android in disbelief.

"Can you think of anyone who better exemplified the idea of 'hiding in plain sight'?" Tony asked, giving his creation a look of what some might call fondness. "Phil Coulson could blend in anywhere in the world with his easy-going, unassuming, guy-in-a-suit persona. He was exactly the kind of guy you wouldn't spare a second glance for if you saw him walking around an office building. No one ever would have suspected Phil of being an agent of a super secret clandestine government agency; no one will ever suspect Vision of being an undercover security android, either."

_That still doesn't explain why he wants it to look and act so much like Phil_, Fury thought to himself. Seeing the look on the inventor's face, however, the Director realized Stark had not told them the whole truth, and recognized the android for what it was. Out loud, however, he nodded his head and said, "Phil was one of our best covert operatives; I can see how he would fit in well in the Tower. So other than melting down innocent guns, what all does this thing do?"

"VISION, give the Director a demonstration."

The android immediately transformed to his security agent guise. His suit separated along an invisible seam in the front and began retracting into its compartment on the android's back. The synthetic face cover disappeared into the hairline, revealing the android's dark red face, as well as the focusing crystal set in its forehead. A pair of gold metal gauntlets deployed covering the synthetic skin of its hands.

Director Fury nodded his approval when he saw the gold-and-green paint scheme of the android's body. "Those were Phil's favorite colors; I'm sure he would approve of the android's uniform."

"I also programmed him with Phil's fighting style based on his personnel file and some security footage of his sparring sessions with Barton," Tony said proudly. "Although, he's been developing some of his own fighting style by using his robotic strength and ability to change his mass and density to his advantage."

"Yes," Fury said with a grimace, rubbing his right wrist ruefully, "I did get to experience some of that superior strength. Phil was always far more of a finesse fighter."

"That's nothing, Director," Vision said cheekily. "You should have seen Dr. Banner's reaction when I walked into the penthouse. He Hulked out, knocked out Mr. Stark, and then proceeded to re-demolish the room before I could subdue him."

"Banner knocked him out?" Fury observed with a nod toward Tony. "Good for him. Serves you right for dropping this bombshell on your friends without warning."

"Me?" Tony said with a huff. "It was JARVIS' fault that we didn't have any warning."

"Of course," JARVIS' voice answered from the ceiling. "It was entirely my fault that you were drunk and not paying any attention when I attempted repeatedly to inform you that the VISION's machining process was complete and that I was in the process of activating him."

"See?" Tony said with a smirk. "I rest my case."

Director Fury rolled his eye. "Wait, did you say that he can change his mass and density?" the Director suddenly asked.

Rather than answer the question directly, Tony gestured to the android and said, "VISION, hand me a drink."

Vision walked over to the bar. He reached out his hand and phased it through the bar counter's surface, felt around for a minute, and brought out a beer bottle. He tossed it end over end toward where Tony was lying calmly on the couch. However, he launched a tiny rocket at it from his shoulder just as it reached the couch. The rocket hit the bottle cap at just the right angle to flick the cap off without detonating. A second later, a short, narrow beam of sun fire shot out of Vision's forehead crystal, melting a perfect hole through the bottle cap and hitting the rocket, causing it to detonate seconds before it would have hit the penthouse wall, swallowing up all of the fire and shrapnel and leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke in its place. At that the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents flinched visibly in spite of themselves. The bottle, meanwhile, landed upright on the end table next to Tony's head and began to foam over, with the bottle cap landing right next to it.

Tony picked up the bottle and took a swig. Then he grabbed the still-warm bottle cap off the table, flicked it in the air toward Fury, and looked at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director with a smirk. "Impressed yet?" he asked. "After the incident with Bruce last week, he also has an adamantium-tipped Hulk Buster tranquilizer missile as one of the interchangeable options in his forearm-mounted missile launcher."

Director Fury masked his emotions before Tony could see his tiny smile, caught the bottle cap with one hand, and said, "Well, at least you have Agent Coulson's personality down, except for one minor slip-up."

"Oh?" asked Tony. "What did I get wrong?"

"The real Agent Coulson would never attack the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and melt his gun down into an unusable piece of slag before striking him in the wrist with exactly the correct amount of force to give him a dead arm," Vision answered immediately with a glance at his creator. "However, the real Agent Coulson would certainly defend himself from an attack by a hostile target," he added, looking pointedly at Fury.

"So now I'm a hostile target? This is your idea, isn't it?" Director Fury demanded of the man on the couch.

"My programming classifies anyone pointing a gun at me and accusing me of being an alien body double intent on taking over the world and stealing all the Earth's cheese whiz as a hostile target," the android responded with a raised eyebrow. He activated his disguise function, causing his suit and face piece to snake their way out of their respective compartments, covering over his Vision uniform and returning him to his Phil Coulson appearance. When it was back in place, Fury noted with detached interest that the bullet hole in the suit had disappeared, and that the face piece had also been repaired.

"Fine," the Director conceded, glancing at the now-disguised android. "I will acknowledge that you are not an alien or a threat to the Earth's security. Barton and Romanoff's reactions to your… security android may be a threat to your _life_, however, Stark. I would suggest warning them in advance so they do not deal more damage to your tower in five seconds than Loki and his army did in an hour. Now how did you get Phil's personnel file to make the android's personality and fighting style so close to Agent Coulson's, or do I want to know?"

The look Tony gave him told him the whole story.

"Just don't make a habit of hacking into our database, Mr. Stark," the Director said, turning toward the elevator. He looked back toward the couch, fixing the billionaire with a devilish grin as he added, "I may decide to let you share a cell with your best friend in the whole world, Justin Hammer."

Stark paled at the threat. "I thought the Constitution prohibited cruel and unusual punishment!" he sputtered out.

"There are exceptions," Fury said vaguely as the elevator doors closed in front of him.

"Do you think he found the file?" Hill asked her superior quietly as they walked out of the tower five minutes later.

"Impossible," the Director said dismissively. "That file is on a computer which is not networked with any of our other computers. He couldn't possibly know the computer exists, let alone access it remotely. There are no security cameras in the room. He couldn't possibly know."

"I sure hope not," Hill said.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thanks to all of those following and reviewing this story. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions, suggestions, etc.

* * *

The VISION android's job consisted entirely of patrolling the Stark Tower (newly re-christened the "Avengers Tower" at Mr. Stark's suggestion; every so often he demonstrated a keen mind for public relations) and monitoring all the tower's security feeds to ensure the tower's safety. Mr. Stark had decided early on that VISION's patrols should not be part of a fixed routine; his connection to the tower's security cameras allowed him to keep tabs on everything in the tower without actually being present, so he could virtually monitor everything at once. As such, VISION spent approximately 50% of his time in the top 30 levels of the tower, wandering through the Stark Industries offices, the research and development labs, and Mr. Stark's personal floors to carry out its primary task of protecting Stark Industries' research as well as Mr. Stark and his guests. Each morning, noon, and evening, however, the VISION spent some time in the tower's lobby observing the people entering and leaving. The remaining 30% of its time was spent patrolling the other 100 floors of Avengers Tower equally on alternating days.

VISION learned to recognize many of the regular faces within the first couple days after it was brought online, creating separate files to catalog employees of the different companies located in the tower, with another file to store visitors in. As soon as a person entered the tower, VISION's facial-recognition software ran his or her picture against a list of known offenders before adding the person to a file along with any pertinent information. Cross-referencing with the employment records of the various businesses renting space in the tower gave the android a large body of information on every person in the tower. It used these files to track patterns of arrival and departure, as well as truancy.

Two days after it was created, VISION's facial-recognition process succeeded in identifying a parole-violator who was visiting an investment consultant. The police arrested him the minute he left the building.

Because VISION's processors had the random access memory to keep track of all the activities in the entire tower with over 100 GB to spare, it quickly began experimenting with other processes to keep its servers occupied. Within the first three days of its existence, the VISION had identified three separate pairs of Stark Industries employees engaged in office romances, as well as an employee who was stealing office supplies from the law firm on the 47th floor. One female employee of the publishing company on the 23rd floor was going to the restroom far more often than strictly necessary, particularly in the morning, and had a barely-noticeable bump in her stomach, leading the VISION to hypothesize that she may be pregnant. A quick biometric scan one morning confirmed it. VISION placed an anonymous gift on the woman's desk that night; her look of surprise the next morning was worth it.

On the VISION's fourth day, it finally had the opportunity to respond to a potential security threat. One of the security cameras in the lobby picked up a man walking into Mr. Stark's newly-created Avengers Gift Shop while wearing an oversized sweatshirt. The store sold merchandise related to all of the Avengers, with all the profits going into a victim relief fund.

The man wandered around the store, moving from one display to the next. He picked up several Iron Man T-shirts, a Captain America hat, and an Iron Fist bandana, and slipped them into his sweatshirt's pouch when the cashier was not paying attention. While looking at a display of watches with the newly-minted Avengers logo, he slipped an expensive gold-plated one with diamonds on its face into his left pocket, worth over $2000. Three minutes later, the man walked out of the store toward the tower's exit.

When the man had walked into the gift shop, the VISION android had been on the 102nd floor in one of the Stark Industries areas. As soon as its processor recognized the potential shoplifting threat, however, the android had quickly walked to the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. On the way down, it electronically alerted the police to the developing situation. By the time the man left the shop, the android was in the lobby waiting for him and the police were 30 minutes away. The android calmly approached the shoplifter.

"Excuse me, sir, I think I may be lost. Do you know where Simon and Kirby Associates is?" the android asked, leading the man toward the tower directory to the left.

"No, sorry, this is my first time in Avengers Tower," the man responded, continuing to follow the VISION toward a hallway out of the lobby without noticing.

The VISION turned a blind corner with the man following after him. "Well, you'd better figure out, because you're going to need a lawyer," the android responded smoothly, turning and abruptly grabbing the man's right hand.

The shoplifter attempted to pull his hand out of the VISION's vice-like grip, but couldn't. He threw a punch at the VISION's face with his left hand, but the android ducked out of the way, causing the man to fall forward off-balance. The VISION followed up with a karate chop to the back of the man's neck with its left hand, simultaneously bringing its right knee up into the man's stomach. He dropped to the floor without a sound.

The VISION pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and snapped them into place on the man's wrists. He carried the unconscious man to the service elevator at the end of the hallway, rode it down to the basement, and locked the man into one of the detainment cells against the far wall. As he reentered the elevator to return to the lobby, the VISION activated a machine gun embedded in the cell's ceiling and aimed it at the man's head within his line of sight. The android smirked inwardly, anticipating the man's reaction in approximately five minutes when he regained consciousness and found himself face-to-muzzle with an automated machine gun. It made a note in the tower's computer system to send a cleaning crew to that cell as soon as the man had been taken away by the police.

* * *

A week later, the VISION identified an impending break-in attempt against the diamond store on the 56th floor. The same five male faces appeared on the tower's security camera for three days in a row on that floor and the floor above. The gynecologist renting the space directly above the diamond store saw patients throughout the day, but the VISION recognized that those five men visited on several days, each time with different women, leading it to investigate reasons for their interest in that particular office.

The tower's floor plans showed that the bathroom in that doctor's office was directly above the diamond store's vault, and that the floor was not reinforced in any way. The VISION hypothesized that the five men were casing the doctor's office as a possible way to drill into the diamond store's vault. That hypothesis was proven correct when the VISION tracked four of the five faces entering the building on Saturday evening, and none of them leaving after business hours. The android immediately walked down to the diamond store's door, activated its Pym Particle plating to phase through both the front door and the vault door, deactivated the Particles, and stood in the corner near the vault door, transforming from its cover alias into its security uniform as it did so.

One hour later, the tower's security cameras showed three men standing outside the doctor's office hovering over the fourth man, who was picking the lock on the door. Thirty seconds later, the security cameras showed all four men walking through the doctor's office into the bathroom in question. The hidden camera that the VISION had installed in that restroom as soon as it had recognized the pattern blinked on at an electronic command as soon as they entered, and the VISION watched as two men lifted a segment from the floor which the men had previously loosened, revealing a hole which the men had cut through the floor and ceiling space. At that moment, the VISION's night vision view focused on the hole that had just appeared in the vault's ceiling. A rope snaked down through it, and the four men quickly slid down it into the vault.

"You know," the android said as soon as all four men were in the vault, "you really aren't the brightest criminals out there, are you?"

Four pairs of eyes whipped around to focus on the human form standing in the corner of the vault. "What do you mean?" asked one, obviously the leader, putting on a show of strength and taking a step toward the VISION.

Vision purposefully walked toward the four men into the beam of light coming through the hole in the ceiling. He stopped less than a foot from the leader, who took a step back at the sight. "Why would any moderately-intelligent criminal attempt to rob a store in a building called 'Avengers Tower?'" he asked. "Especially after last week's festivities, I mean."

The four robbers drew handguns and pointed them at Vision. "Who are you?" demanded the leader.

"I'm the Avengers' security guard," the android replied calmly.

"Why would the Avengers have a security guard here?" the man asked, a faint quiver in his voice.

"Seriously, guys?" the android said, arching an eyebrow at them. "Which part of the name 'Avengers Tower' confused you?"

The only response the android received was four guns discharging at him.

Nothing happened. The bullets hit the android's torso, flattened, and fell to the floor at his feet. "Okay, now it's my turn," Vision said, activating his shoulder-mounted missile launchers as he did so. Four missiles shot out of their launchers and straight into the barrels of the four handguns. The missiles exploded, destroying the guns in the process. The four robbers dropped their destroyed guns and flinched backward against the wall. They stared at the android in shock and horror, gripping their stinging right hands as they did so.

The leader reached for the rope dangling in front of him to pull himself out of the vault and escape. However, before he could start climbing, a narrow beam of fire shot out of the crystal in Vision's forehead, severing the rope just where it entered the vault.

"Now, are you going to come quietly," asked the android calmly of the four surprised men, "or are we going to do this the hard way?"

The biggest, surliest robber stepped forward, away from his associates, toward Vision. He flexed his arms and crouched down into a fighting stance. Vision regarded the man emotionlessly and didn't make a move. Without warning, the robber lunged forward, trying to deal the android a crippling blow to the chest. His right fist connected with incredible force, and made a sickening crunch as multiple bones cracked under the force. The man let out a howl, fell backward, and cradled his damaged hand to his chest.

"Seriously?" Vision asked incredulously. "Not even five minutes ago you saw my chest stop _bullets_, and you still think your _fist_ can damage me?" Turning to the other three robbers, he grinned devilishly and said, "Any more takers?"

Without even looking at each other, the three other robbers knelt on the floor and put their hands on their heads. The android tossed three pairs of handcuffs at them, and they wordlessly cuffed themselves. He then dropped a fourth pair next to the man who was rolling on the floor and moaning. When the man made no effort to put them on, the android bent down and attached them himself.

At a command the four pairs of handcuffs linked together to a chain the extended from Vision's waist. The android stepped out of the vault through the door (trailing the partly-intangible chain behind him), opened the vault door, and dragged the four robbers out of the vault. He opened the store's front door electronically and led his four prisoners to the elevator. As soon as they were out, the door shut automatically. Vision brought the four men down to the detainment area in the tower's basement, where he attached the chain to their cell's wall and closed the door as soon as the four men were inside.

Leaving the detainment area, Vision notified the police of what had happened. He then left a message informing the diamond store owner about the incident, and placed a work order to repair the floor. As he entered the elevator, Vision donned his business suit disguise.

By the next morning, no one would know that there had been a robbery attempt.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I will be moving in a couple days, so I may or may not be able to post chapters for the next two or three days. I already have this story written through chapter 11, so I will be back as soon as we are settled in. In the meantime, this story took a bit of a turn from my original plan to just introduce VISION and how each of the Avengers reacts to him, and in a couple chapters it actually does start to connect more to my first story, "Avengers Plan B." I would suggest going back and reading that before I post Chapter 11 in a few days.

* * *

Two weeks into his motorcycle tour of the country, Steve Rogers had gotten sick of it. Everything had changed too much while he was frozen in the Arctic ice: Instead of quiet roads and relatively few cars (the Depression and the fuel quotas during the war were not conducive to motoring), he had to deal with the Interstate Highway System, congested as it was with hundreds of cars and trucks. Instead of quaint, clean, family-owned motels, he had to stay at cheap chain motels which all seemed to be playing host to wild fraternity parties and infested with bedbugs. When he visited Sandy Hook, he was shocked by the bathing suits which the women wore; risqué in _his_ time meant exposed arms and legs and maybe a little midriff, not tiny triangles of fabric loosely attached with strings which barely covered anything. Nearly everyone he had known and loved was dead and buried; the lone exception was the youngest member of his Howling Commandos, who was in the Alzheimer's wing of a small nursing home in Kansas City. Steve wasn't sure if he could bring himself to visit Johnny and see him in that condition.

He quickly realized that he needed something constant and familiar to hold onto if he was going to adjust to being out in this strange new world. _The closest I can get to someone from my time is Howard's son_, Steve thought to himself as he sped back toward New York City, _though Tony and I didn't exactly get off to the best start. We managed to work well during the battle, but is that enough to make up for butting heads beforehand? Still, he did say that we were all welcome to stop by any time we wanted_.

An hour later, Steve arrived at the entrance to the underground parking garage of the Avengers Tower. He stopped at the security checkpoint blocking his way, where his retina was scanned. As soon as the computer recognized his eye scan, he was directed to a parking space at the back of the lot which was labeled "Reserved for Mr. Stark." When he pulled into the parking spot, a second retina scanner popped out of the floor and scanned his eye. With a beep, the wall in front of him swung back, revealing the secret secondary parking area beyond. He noticed ten expensive-looking cars parked along the two side walls. A red Humvee with a gold "A" painted on the hood and a gun turret sticking out of the top sat directly in front of the exit against the back wall. The remainder of the parking area had 15 parking spaces labeled with the names of each of the other members of the Avengers Initiative. At the moment, however, only the space labeled "War Machine" was occupied, with a red sports car. The space labeled "Captain America" was closest to the elevator. Steve parked his motorcycle in that space, got off, threw his duffel bag over his shoulder, and stepped into the elevator.

"Hello, Captain Rogers," a voice said from the ceiling. Steve looked around the elevator, startled, trying to locate the source of the noise. "Do not be alarmed. My name is JARVIS, Mr. Stark's artificial intelligence butler. I run the tower."

"Hi… JARVIS," Steve answered hesitantly. _I'm not sure if I'll be able to get used to this_.

"Mr. Stark is in his personal lab with Lt. Col. Rhodes and Dr. Banner currently, and has requested your presence," the A.I. said.

"Okay," Steve responded, "let's see what _else_ Stark has to surprise me with!"

* * *

"Mr. Stark, Captain Rogers is just getting off the elevator now," JARVIS announced several minutes later.

"Let him in, JARVIS," Tony ordered. The door opened with a beep and Steve walked through. Tony walked over to him and held out a hand saying, "Hey, Cap! What brings you here?" Rhodes followed him over and shook Steve's hand with a nod.

"Well, I was wandering around the East Coast and trying to catch up on everything I missed over the last 70 years, when I realized I just couldn't get caught up. I just missed too much, and things are just too different from what I remember," Steve said sadly. "I figured that maybe what I needed what something closer to the America that I remember, and that would be you guys. Is your offer of a place to stay still on the table?"

"Of course. You are welcome to stay here for as long as you would like, Steve," Tony answered graciously. "Bruce and Rhodey have been living here pretty much since the battle ended, staying in a couple of our guest rooms. I think Pepper may be done with work now, so she may be able to set up a room for you on the same level."

"Sir, Ms. Potts is still in the Stark Industries CEO's office," JARVIS said. "I estimate that she still has about an hour of paperwork left to complete today."

"Well, so much for that idea," Tony said with a shrug. He thought for a moment, snapped his fingers, and said, "Hey, I know what you can do in the meantime. Have you actually gotten a chance to look around the city since you woke up?"

"Not really. S.H.I.E.L.D. set up an apartment for me in Brooklyn, but the only places I really went were my apartment and the gym until Fury called me in," Steve answered. "Why?"

"How about taking a tour of the city?" Tony suggested. "By the time you get back, we'll have a room set up for you. Bruce is working on some research right now, and Rhodey and I are trying to improve the War Machine suit's guidance system, but I know someone who would love to take you on a tour."

"Oh?"

"VISION?" Tony called. The lab door opened as Phil Coulson walked in.

"Tony, what the hell?" Steve demanded furiously, glaring at the inventor.

"Steve, meet Vision. He's an android that I designed after the battle to handle all the tower's security concerns. He has the ability to counter any possible threat," Tony said proudly. "VISION, show him."

The android immediately retracted its suit and face covering, revealing the colored uniform underneath.

"Wait, he's an android?" Steve asked, confused.

"You were at my dad's first Expo back in the 40s, right? Of course you were; everyone was. One of the exhibits he showed off there was a prototype artificial intelligence robot. I've actually got the original on display down in the Stark Industries history exhibit on the third floor. We've improved the idea over the years, but the concept is still the same. This guys is actually loosely based on that original prototype," Tony explained patiently.

"Okay, I get that, but why does he look like Agent Coulson?" Steve asked, arching an eyebrow as his dead war buddy's progeny.

"Oh, you know, I wanted him to look as unremarkable as possible, and Phil wasn't using his appearance anymore, so…" Tony trailed off, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

Rogers was about to argue the point, but one look at the other man's face revealed what Tony was trying to avoid saying. He turned to the android still standing at the lab door and said, "Can you show me around the tower?"

"It would be my pleasure, Captain," Vision responded, returning to his cover alias as he gestured for Steve to follow him toward the elevator. Tony let out a breath, shrugged, set his face, and turned back to the workbench where Rhodey had returned studying a holographic projection of the War Machine suit.

[break]

"I noticed that you did not push the issue with Mr. Stark in there," the android observed quietly as he stepped into the elevator with Steve.

The other gave him an appraising look and said, "I may not know Tony very well, but if there's one thing I have learned about him, it's that he likes to play things close to the vest.

"He's mourning; that much is certain. On the helicarrier I realized that he must have liked Agent Coulson, and I see that he's upset now that he's dead. I remember when Bucky died; that may have been one of the first times after the procedure that I really regretted never being able to get drunk again. Of course," he considered, his face falling, "that's been happening more and more frequently since I woke up in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility poorly modeled to look like something from the 40s.

"Anyways, after Bucky fell off that train, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bottle and stay there until the pain went away. Peggy almost had to drag me away from my grief to make me return to the fight."

"And yet even after you lost your best friend, to say nothing of all the other soldiers you lost, you still managed to defeat the Red Skull and take Hydra apart," the android noted quietly, giving the super soldier an admiring look.

"Yeah, one thing Bucky's death taught me was that nothing helps the grieving process along like punishing those responsible," Steve said with a grimace, "but that can only take you so far. The thing that has really helped me has been drawing. On the plane ride from England to that last Hydra base, I found myself drawing a picture of Bucky and me when we went to the Expo, before I was recruited into the super-soldier program. Of course, it was ruined by spending 70 years in ice.

"Since waking up, I've filled four notebooks with drawings. Two of those are dedicated to Howard and the members of my Howling Commandos, with another filled exclusively with pictures of Peggy. The last has drawings of some of the people I've met since waking up; after the battle I even drew a couple pictures of Agent Coulson."

Steve suddenly stopped talking and remembered the robotic man standing next to him, who was listening to him speak with rapt attention. He shook his head and said, "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this; it's something I've never told anyone before."

"I'm grateful that you have chosen to confide this in me," the android responded.

"Maybe it's because you look so much like Agent Coulson and I would have liked to get to know him better," Steve said. "Or maybe it's because I realized that you are Tony's version of my drawing pads."

Vision simply smiled at him and said, "I assure you that I will not tell Mr. Stark anything that you've said in here." After a thought, he added, "I just instructed JARVIS to delete the last few minutes of this elevator's security feed, too."

"Thanks. So, do you share Agent Coulson's hero-worship of Captain America?" Steve asked the android abruptly with a raised eyebrow.

"I have been programmed with his personality and most of his memories, so yes," the android admitted with something akin to embarrassment, "although sadly I do not share his extensive Captain America trading card collection."

"In that case, maybe I can do something for you," Steve said, reaching into his duffel bag. He pulled out his four drawing pads. "I never did sign Coulson's cards, but maybe doing something nice for his doppelganger will help make up for that."

Steve quickly flipped through the notebooks, tearing out a few pages from each. "Here's a picture I drew of all the Howling Commandos the day after I woke up," he said, handing a picture to the android. "This one of Bucky I drew a couple months ago on the anniversary of the day I rescued him from Hydra the first time. Here's one of Peggy that I drew on her birthday." He stacked a couple other papers on top of the first one. He tore a few pages out of his last notebook and held them up. "These are pictures of the Avengers that I drew while I was on the beach in Sandy Hook, including one of you—Agent Coulson, I mean."

The android gasped—or made a sound close to a gasp—and exclaimed, "Thank you, Captain Rogers!"

"They aren't vintage trading cards, but they are signed by Captain America," Steve said, embarrassed.

"Sir, these are _better_ than trading cards," Vision said earnestly. He remotely accessed the tower's room plans and found an empty storage closet on the guest floor near the top of the tower. He changed to room's designation to his personal space in which to keep his drawings. Offhandedly, the VISION reflected on how unusual it was for a robot to have personal possessions.

"Sir," Vision said as the elevator doors opened, "this is the training floor that Mr. Stark added into the tower's plans after the battle…"


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry for the long delay in posting. My wife and I moved, but we don't have internet in our new apartment, so I may not be posting on as regular a schedule as I had been. On the bright side, driving a UHaul for 6 hours gave me plenty of time to think, so I already have a good idea of how this story will end and what the next one will be about.

Reviews are appreciated.

* * *

"Sir, Agents Barton and Romanoff just pulled into the Avengers parking area," JARVIS announced. Bruce looked up from his microscope and glanced over at the man leaning over the holographic work station with a concerned expression on his face.

Tony stood up straight and said, "Barton and Romanoff? Shoot. I'd hoped we would have another week at least to get ready for them. Um, JARVIS, send them up, and have the VISION android come up here, too. But don't let them see Vision until after I talk to them."

"Very well, sir, they will be there in a couple minutes," the A.I. responded.

Tony saw the worried expression on his lab partner's face and said, "Relax, I'm sure Director Fury was exaggerating when he said they would destroy the tower."

"I hope you're right," Bruce said. "This place is actually starting to grow on me; I'd hate for it to come down on _top_ of me!"

"Why would the tower fall down on top of you?" asked a curious female voice from the doorway.

Tony and Bruce both looked over at the door, startled. When they saw the redheaded spy leaning against the doorframe with Barton's arm draped over her shoulder, however, Tony smirked and wagged his eyebrows at them. "So… the Hawk and the Spider, eh? You went on vacation together, you have shared safe houses… So what's going on between the two of you and will it be happening in my tower?"

"What do you think is going on between us?" Romanoff said nonchalantly.

"Well," Tony began with a sly grin, but he cut off as soon as he saw the look on Barton's face over Romanoff's shoulder. Lamely, he contented himself with saying, "I think that whatever's going on between the two of you is between you and none of anyone else's business."

"That's what I thought you were going to say," Romanoff said with a smirk. "Now are you going to answer my first question? Why is the tower going to fall down on top of Bruce?"

"Well—" Tony began before being interrupted by a voice from the hallway.

"Mr. Stark seems to think the two of you are going to destroy the tower because of me," the VISION android said with a smirk.

"JARVIS!" Tony shouted. "I thought I told you not to allow them to see Vision until I'd talked to them."

"You did," VISION replied with a devilish smirk, "and you also talked to them. You also forgot to specify 'explain what I did to their beloved handler's memory while they were lying on a Florida beach.' So I interpreted your instructions as broadly as possible."

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded Barton, dropping his arm from his partner's shoulder and spinning on his heel to stare at the apparition standing behind him. Romanoff similarly turned to see where the voice had come from, and her jaw dropped in shock.

"Um, before you pull the C4 out of your back pockets, let me explain…" Tony began fearfully.

Barton turned to fix an enraged glare on the billionaire, who quailed under the intensity of his gaze. "Explain," he said evenly.

"After the battle, I was concerned about how easily Loki managed to get into the tower," Tony explained carefully, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. "I decided to create a security android that would prevent something like that from ever happening again. While I was developing it, I realized that I wanted my robot to be a lot like Phil: Fearless, determined, loyal, confident, able to blend into any surroundings. When I realized that, I thought, 'What better way to remember Phil than by modeling my security android after him; it's like I'm keeping a piece of him alive here.'"

"You didn't know him nearly as well as I did," Barton said threateningly, "so how can you pretend otherwise?"

"Hawk, I never claimed to know Coulson as well as you," Tony responded with surprising gentleness. "But I did grow close to him when I started working with S.H.I.E.L.D. He was the one who handled the cleanup for the Stark Industries explosion two years ago, and he was also there for me when I was dying last year. He saved my assistant's life a couple times. I don't know what your relationship with Coulson was, and I'm not trying to downplay it; I'm just trying to remember him in my own way."

Romanoff put her hand on her partner's shoulder, looked at Stark, and said, "I don't care what your relationship with Coulson was like; this is out of line. Just how accurate did you make your robot?"

"Personality-wise, as close as I could make it, and the same thing with his fighting style. I did give him a few modifications to make him a little more powerful. You want a demonstration?" Tony asked with a hesitant smile.

Barton simply stormed out of the lab toward the elevator, with Romanoff hurrying to keep up. The VISION android followed at a distance.

* * *

"There is a training level six floors above your location," JARVIS' voice echoed from the ceiling of the elevator as soon as Clint and Natasha stepped into it.

"Fine," Clint said mindlessly, as the elevator began its ascent. Natasha didn't say a word, just leaned imperceptibly into Clint's shoulder as they rode the elevator up to the training floor.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a huge training facility. Along one wall sat a series of free weights, with a number of machines along the opposite wall. In the middle of the room was a boxing ring, flanked on either side by a pair of sparring mats. The whole room was surrounded by a glass wall, with a running track around the outside of the training room. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents immediately claimed the sparring mat on their left and began warming up.

Five minutes later, they finished stretching and began sparring. Clint dropped into a catlike stance, prepared for Natasha's attack to initiate the fight. Natasha lashed out with a surprise right hook, which Clint avoided easily by dodging to his right. He caught her arm between his left arm and side and jerked it to the side. She flicked out with her right leg, however, and caught it behind his left knee, pulling his leg out from under him. He fell over onto his side and let her arm go. Before he hit the ground, however, he caught himself with his left hand and fell into a cartwheel. He landed on the balls of his feet and sprung back away from the kick Natasha threw at his chest. She followed it up with a combination of kicks and punches, most of which he dodged. Her last kick caught him in his right side and threw him momentarily off-balance. That moment was all Natasha needed. She fell to the ground and swept his legs out from under him. As soon as he hit the ground, she was on top of him, pinning his legs between her knees and his arms out to the side with her hands. After holding him in that position for a minute, she leaned over and grazed his mouth with her lips before springing off and walking over to take a swig from her water bottle.

Clint followed her over to the bench and took a drink from his own bottle. He glanced over to the door, where he saw the VISION android quietly watching them. At a resigned nod, the android walked over to where the two assassins were sitting side by side next to the sparring area.

Silently, Clint rose from the bench and walked into the middle of the mat, followed by the android. Without warning, Clint spun and threw a kick at the android's head, which it ducked easily. The android fell into a familiar defensive stance, balancing on the balls of its feet. Clint threw a punch at it, which it easily blocked, counterattacking with a strike at his throat, which Clint ducked under. Clint followed up with a knee to the VISION's chest, which the android blocked with one arm. VISION broke away from Clint, took a step backward, and jabbed at the man's sternum. Clint grabbed its forearm and twisted it behind its back, causing VISION to spin into a back flip over Clint's arm. As the match progressed, Clint and the VISION started striking harder and harder, spinning into complicated moves, vying for an advantage. Finally, VISION landed a sharp kick into Clint's stomach, pushing him backward a step. It followed up with a punch to his chest, grabbed the arm Clint blocked with, and pinned it against his back. When it placed the assassin in a headlock, Clint tapped its arm twice, signaling defeat. VISION immediately released him.

Clint walked back to the bench and sat down next to Natasha, who had watched the bout appraisingly. The two assassins shared a long look before both nodded nearly imperceptibly at the same time.

"The shooting range is one floor above you," JARVIS announced at a request from VISION.

The two assassins and their former handler's android lookalike walked to the elevator silently and rode it up one floor. When they stepped off the elevator, they saw a wall of bulletproof glass creating a viewing area to watch the ten shooting lanes, which had various automated targets available for their use. A separate room off to the side held all of the Avengers' weapons, including, Clint was surprised to see, his bow, quiver, and personal sniper rifle in a locker labeled "Hawkeye."

The three each pulled out their handguns and strode over to the three closest shooting lanes. At a command, two silhouette targets descended in front of each of them in a "hostage scenario" configuration, with one in front (the "hostage") partially concealing the one behind (the "perpetrator"), at a distance of 10 meters. A light clicked on in front of each of them, and all three guns fired off simultaneously. Sixteen rounds each later, the light clicked off and the targets moved to where they were standing. Natasha's target had a tiny jagged cluster covering the top left corner of the "perpetrator's" body, farthest away from the "hostage." Vision's target had a single ragged hole directly in the middle of the head. Clint's target had a straight line across the "perpetrator's" head from one ear to the other, cutting the target nearly in half.

"Not bad," Clint observed with a glance at Vision's target. "So what else can you do?"

Without responding, the VISION activated its disguise mode, changing from its Phil Coulson appearance to its "security" appearance. Clint looked away when the face covering began to retract, but looked back once the process was completed. At a command, JARVIS activated a dozen plastic targets moving in a random pattern along a track on the roof. Within a second, Vision's missiles had finished off all but one of them, which promptly melted when it was hit by fire from Vision's forehead.

"That's based on the Destroyer gun, right?" Clint observed with an approving nod. "I think Phil would have liked that… Actually, I think Phil would have approved of you," he said with a pained smile.

Natasha excused herself quietly, walked toward the elevator, and asked for Ms. Potts' location, leaving her partner alone in the shooting range with Vision.

"Agent Barton," Vision began, transforming back to its cover alias, "I apologize for startling you with my appearance. Mr. Stark has not looked at Agent Coulson's personnel file, so he does not realize how close you were with your handler. In fact, my first act on being brought online was to delete Agent Coulson's personnel file from Mr. Stark's servers so he could not access it. However, Agent Coulson's personnel file is part of my personal database, so I am well aware of how much Agent Coulson meant to you as a brother-in-arms, a friend, and a supervisor. I have also been programmed to behave like Agent Coulson, and he would not want me to cause you any undue grief with my physical appearance. If I have, then I sincerely apologize."

Clint allowed some of his emotion to bleed through as he said, "Thank you. As loath as I am to admit it, your fighting style is virtually identical to Phil's, and you shoot like him, too. I—I think he'd approve if he knew about you."

"I'm grateful to hear that. I do not intend to replace Agent Coulson, and as such I will refrain from claiming any familiarity with you or Agent Romanoff until you permit me," Vision continued. He placed a gentle hand on the man's shoulder as he went on, "However, there is one thing I believe Agent Coulson would have liked to be able to tell you: 'I did not blame you for being compromised by Loki; in fact, I admired your tenacity in continuing to fight against him, first by saving Director Fury, and then by saving Agent Hill. Everything I did from that moment until my death was for the express purpose of rescuing you. When I went to confront Loki, I was doing so freely and gladly, in the hope that my action would help Agent Romanoff to secure your release from Loki's mind control.' Barton, he would not want you to blame yourself for his death."

"I know, but thank you for the reminder," Barton said, fighting back the tears which sprung unbidden to his eyes. Vision took his hand of the man's shoulder and took a step back. With a nod to the android, the assassin walked over to the elevator to look for Bruce Banner.

Suddenly left alone in the shooting range, the android was surprised to find himself feeling a form of brotherly affection for the archer. He smiled inwardly as he perused Phil Coulson's mission reports from his time as Barton's handler and reflected on the deep friendship between the two.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thanks to all those who read, favorite, and follow this story. It is going to be 4 more chapters, and I've written all but the last one.

* * *

There was a loud _crack_ as two strangely-clad figures appeared on the roof of the Avengers Tower. The man, who was wearing a gleaming metal breastplate and scarlet cape and carried a war hammer, strode purposefully to the roof access door. He flung it open and stepped inside, followed by a blonde woman in equally-brilliant armor, leather chaps, and a royal blue cape.

"Greetings, Mr. Odinson," JARVIS said smoothly as soon as the two visitors had entered. "I am JARVIS; I run the tower."

"Hello, JARVIS," Thor answered, unfazed by the voice coming from the ceiling. "I am looking for my friend, the owner of this tower. Could you direct me to him?"

"Of course. He is in his lab on the 121st floor, along with Lt Col. Rhodes. You will find the elevator at the end of this hallway. I shall inform him of your arrival. How shall I announce your companion?" the A.I. asked.

"My name is Brunnhilde of Asgard, the leader of the Valkyrior, the elite group of female warriors who are responsible for ensuring the proper treatment of the honorable dead. I am also known as Valkyrie," the woman answered authoritatively, brandishing her gleaming broadsword as she did so.

"Welcome, Ms. Brunnhilde. Mr. Odinson, I shall inform Mr. Stark of your arrivals."

* * *

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Odinson just arrived on the roof with an Asgardian woman. They are coming down to visit with you," JARVIS announced in Tony's personal lab.

"Thor's here? Took him long enough. Who is his guest?" Tony asked.

"She introduced herself as Brunnhilde of Asgard, also known as Valkyrie," the A.I. responded.

"I wonder what this new Asgardian wants," Rhodey commented, with a meaningful glance at Tony.

"Whatever it is, I really hope it's not like the _last_ Asgardian other than Thor who visited our city," Tony responded.

Less than a minute later, the doors to the lab opened, revealing the tower's visitors. The two strode briskly into the room, where Thor immediately approached Tony, took the offered hand, and pulled the other man into a bone-crushing one-handed hug. "My friend," the larger man said, "It does my heart good to see you again."

"Good to see you, too, Shakespeare," Tony gasped. He pushed back against the other's chest to take a breath before saying, "I was wondering when you would be coming back for a visit."

"Yes, I was worried that I would not be able to visit your planet for a while, even with the Tesserarct finally back in our possession," Thor responded. "In face, the first week after the battle I barely saw the palace. I spent most of the time using the Tesseract to travel to all of the nine realms and reestablish the communication lines which had been severed when we lost the Bifröst and ensure the other realms' safety. However, the repairs on the Bifröst have progressed far enough that we can send small groups of one or two across it each day."

"Well, you are both welcome to stay in the tower for as long as you are here," Tony offered. "I have plenty of guest rooms available for you to use. In fact, I could even set an apartment aside permanently for your use whenever you come to Earth, Thor."

"Thank you, my friend. I will certainly take you up on that offer," Thor responded gladly. "For now, however, my companion and I would like to visit with Director Fury. I must find out from him where S.H.I.E.L.D. sent my Jane while my brother was here. Brunnhilde has volunteered to assist with the memorial rituals honoring the fallen agents as part of my people's penance for Loki's crimes."

"I may be able to help you with locating your lady friend, strong stuff. What's her name?" Tony asked.

"Dr. Jane Foster of New Mexico."

"JARVIS?"

"According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records, Dr. Jane Foster was sent to consult at an observatory in Washington state the same night as Loki's appearance at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Pegasus Dark Energy Facility," JARVIS reported a moment later. "However, she was permitted to return to her New Mexico laboratory the day after the Battle of Manhattan. Phone records show that she has not left since her return; she is still in New Mexico."

"I thank you, my friend. I shall leave at once to visit her, and hopefully stay with her for a few days. I must return to Asgard in a week, but I shall return to the tower before I leave," Thor said, moving toward the door.

"Hey, why leave so soon? You just got here, buddy, and we haven't seen you in a month. Why not stay for a bit and at least take a look around the tower?" Tony pushed.

"Well, I have missed seeing my brothers-in-arms," Thor mused. "And an hour won't make too much of a difference either way. Very well, I will stay to take a look around your tower before I leave. Brunnhilde?"

"I will join you, though after that I must get on to my task," the woman said imperiously.

"That's the spirit," Tony said with a grin. "If you would like, I will have JARVIS inform your lady that you are here and that you will come and visit her in a short while." When Thor nodded, Tony said, "Okay, now let's see about finding you something a little less… Asgardian to wear around the tower; if you wander around here in armor, all the groupies will be begging for autographs! JARVIS, what do we have that will fit them?"

"Sir, I have already made the appropriate requests at the Macy's on floor 35. A selection of suitable clothing is on its way up in the elevator as we speak," JARVIS responded. "I am currently calling Dr. Foster's cell phone to inform her of Mr. Odinson's presence and desire to visit her shortly. Director Fury will have a memo sitting on his desk after his afternoon briefing concludes in ten minutes informing him of Ms. Brunnhilde's mission."

"Great," Tony said, walking out the door. "I'll show you around the lower floors first to give you a taste of Midgardian culture, and then we can take a look at the upper floors where you'll see more of the Avengers-related areas."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the clothing which Tony had purchased arrived on the guest level of the tower. The two Asgardians changed into their new "Midgardian" clothing. Tony had actually insisted on giving each of his guests a number of extra changes of clothing from which to choose while they were staying at the tower, despite Thor's protests that a prince should not accept such gifts from a friend. Nevertheless, they accepted the extra clothing, leaving it along with their armor and weapons in the guest rooms which Stark had set apart for them. They met Tony at the elevator to ride down to the lobby and begin their tour as soon as they were ready.

In the lobby, Tony took his two guests around to look at the various shops, particularly the Avengers Gift Shop. Thor was highly amused to see a stack of coffee mugs with his widely-grinning face stamped on the outside, and the word "ANOTHER!" printed on the inside bottom in bold letters. The display of "Mjölnir Markers," however, confused him to no end.

"What is the purpose of this device?" he asked Tony, holding up a pencil with an oversized gray rectangular eraser on the end.

"It's a pencil, Blondie. You write with it," Tony explained exasperatedly.

"But what's with the thing on the end?"

"It's a rubber eraser. In case you make a mistake and need to erase it," Tony said.

"But why does it look like Mjölnir?"

"Because that's what the people want. Because the people like you," Stark answered pointedly.

"But—"

At that moment Thor's argument was cut off abruptly by the sound of gunfire coming from the lobby. A team of a dozen men wielding AK-47 submachine guns had burst into the lobby and begun shooting over people's heads to take out the security measures that had automatically deployed from the ceiling.

* * *

At that moment, the VISION android was standing in the lab on the 120th floor along with Clint Barton, watching Bruce Banner perform some experiments on Clint's quiver, which had been slightly damaged during his target practice that morning. When the security system registered the gunmen, however, the android immediately rose to his feet and left the room. "There's a shootout down in the lobby," he called over his shoulder to the other two men. Clint immediately grabbed his newly-repaired quiver off the lab table and ran to the elevator, calling for JARVIS to locate Natasha as he went. Bruce merely sighed, knowing that the Other Guy would likely do more harm than good in the confined area of the tower lobby.

VISION, meanwhile, issued a command for the glass wall in front of him to open. The wall swung outward at the same moment that he would have crashed into it, and the android plunged through the opening, twisting as he did so to face the tower. He fell feet first alongside the tower, retracting his disguise as he fell. As soon as his gauntlets deployed, he activated his flight stabilizers. By this time he had fallen to around the 10th floor.

He twisted around in three-fourths of a back-flip and activated his jetpack and foot-mounted repulsors full blast as soon as he was parallel to the ground with his head pointed at the tower. The android burst through the glass wall without warning approximately five feet above the ground, raining shards of glass on the civilians who had already taken cover and startling everyone in the lobby.

The tower's security cameras had already given Vision a good fix on the gunmen's locations, though they had shot out several of the cameras early in their assault. Vision activated his shoulder-mounted missile launchers the moment he breached the window and entered the lobby, firing off a single missile at each gunman's location. Several missiles automatically self-destructed when they determined that the gunmen were in the wrong location, but five of the men were killed by the surprise volley. Two others fell to the floor unconscious when Vision's arms caught them in a flying clothesline as he flew across the lobby. The android did a flip and fell to his hands and knees on the floor, crouching over the two unconscious gunmen, and looked up to locate the remaining five targets.

Three had hidden behind the information desk for protection and were aiming their AKs over the counter at him. Vision straightened up to his full height and fired a low-payload missile from his wrist launcher at the desk. The desk exploded in a contained shower of shrapnel, killing the three gunmen, but not causing any extra damage. Vision looked around, simultaneously accessing the security cameras, to locate the final two assailants. However, he quickly realized they were no longer threats: Both were lying dead with black-feathered arrows sticking out of their throats.

Vision nodded to Hawkeye and Black Widow, who had taken a minute to don their S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued combat suits before coming down, but had just stepped out of the elevator and both had their weapons drawn and ready to fire. The two assassins tightly acknowledged the android and strode over to the only two gunmen who were still alive and zip-tied their hands. The android walked over to the Avengers Gift Shop where Iron Man, Thor, and Valkyrie had been busy keeping the store's patrons out of the line of fire.

Tony greeted his android with an angry, "Did you really have to blow up a desk?" before slapping him on the back and grinning. Tony then walked over to the police sergeant and gave him a temporary access code to view the security footage of the attack. Then he led the android and his two guests to the elevator to return to the Avengers floors of the tower. As soon as the man, android, and two Asgardians entered the elevator and the doors closed, Vision altered his appearance to return to his disguise form.

When Thor observed the alteration, he gave "Phil" a surprised look and said, "I am gladdened to see you again, son of Coul, though I believed you to have been killed prior to the battle last month. How did this come to pass?"

The android gave his creator a deferential glance. Tony cleared his throat, looked down at his shoes, and said embarrassedly, "Sorry to disappoint you, Thor, but this actually isn't the 'son of Coul;' he is actually a robot that I created to protect the tower. His name is VISION, and it's his personality, appearance, and fighting style that are _based_ on Phil Coulson. Sadly, Phil is still dead, Thor."

Thor averted his eyes sadly. After considering for a moment, however, he looked up and gave the inventor a broad smile. Placing his right hand on Tony's left shoulder, he said, "In Asgard, we also remember our brave fallen warriors with fitting tributes to their memory; songs and statues for the most part, though some exceptional warriors receive more unique honors. My friend, your android guardian is a fine tribute to a good warrior and friend."


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Sorry for the long delay between updates. Between not having internet at home and being away on vacation, I haven't had time or the ability to do so before now. But I will try to update more regularly this week, which will finish off this story. Then I am toying with a few ideas for a sequel to both this story and my other one, Avengers Plan B.

* * *

"Tony, I need to go shopping and find a dress for the concert this evening," Pepper Potts called out into the game room on the Avengers common area floor where her boyfriend was playing Call of Duty II with Clint, Steve, and Rhodey.

"Huh? Okay," Tony said mindlessly. As Pepper reached the elevator, however, he shouted out to her, "Wait! Make sure someone goes with you!"

"Why? And who's going to go with me?" Pepper asked. "Bruce asked not to be disturbed, Natasha is in the middle of her afternoon workout, and Thor is busy showing Jane around the tower before he leaves tomorrow to return home. You gave Happy the day off for his niece's birthday, and I don't think any of you are interested in going with me," she added with a small laugh.

"Remember those e-mails we got yesterday? I'd feel better if you didn't leave alone," Tony said sincerely. He thought for a moment before calling out, "Take Vision with you. With the seven of us here, the tower should be pretty safe, so we don't really need him here. Plus, he has the super strength to carry anything and everything you could possibly buy."

"Fine," Pepper snapped unhappily. "JARVIS, have the VISION android meet me in the Avengers parking area."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Pepper and Vision were fighting through the downtown traffic on the way to Pepper's favorite women's department store in the city in a powder blue Corvette. The two sat together in awkward silence in the stop-and-go-traffic.

Five minutes into the drive, Pepper burst out, "You know, I don't know if you appreciate just how hard this is for me."

"What do you mean, Ms. Potts?" asked the android, though he already suspected the answer.

"I've been around Tony Stark for eleven years now, and he's done some crazy things, but nothing like this. It took me a full year to get used to JARVIS' omnipresence; three more to come to terms with Tony's work, dietary, and sleeping habits. It was really uncomfortable for me six years ago when he turned me into his _pimp_ and made me schedule appointments with all the Playboy calendar models, but I managed to do that because I liked my job too much to risk it, and I really didn't have any emotional interest in him at that point. Two years ago when he was held captive in a cave in Afghanistan, I was terrified for him: I didn't know if he was alive or dead, and I was actually starting to think of him as a friend and not just a boss. Maybe I was even getting attached to the dumb playboy. Last year when I found out that he'd been dying alone and not telling anyone, I wanted to kill him on principle for not trusting me enough to tell me what was going on. But all of that pales in comparison to what he's done now.

"Now that I'm actually in something of a personal relationship with the man, I have all of three good friends, all of whom I know through Tony, because I spend too much time at work to make any friends of my own beyond him, Rhodey, and Happy. With this whole S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers nonsense, I thought I may have actually made another friend in Phil, and then he goes and gets killed. That's bad enough, but now I have you as a daily reminder that Phil is gone. I thought I could learn to accept it when Tony told me, but a month later I'm still finding it to be really hard," Pepper finished, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry for exploding at you like that; I know you don't deserve it."

"Ms. Potts—Pepper—I am truly sorry that my appearance is so disconcerting to you. As I told you a month ago, Mr. Stark did not program me to take Agent Coulson's place, especially not in the hearts and minds of those who knew him so well like you and Agents Barton and Romanoff. The fact that Mr. Stark gave me Agent Coulson's memories and personality from his personnel file does mean that I think and behave in approximately the same way that he would, but that is where the similarity between us ends. My entire purpose is to protect Avengers Tower and those who live there, not become a new Agent Coulson. I do not want to defame Agent Coulson's memory," the android responded earnestly.

"I know that," Pepper answered. "It's just that every time I look at you, I am forcefully reminded of Phil."

"Phil Coulson was a good man; my programming makes that abundantly clear," Vision acknowledged. "He did not make friends lightly, but he considered you to be a friend, due in no small part to your role in helping him to 'wrangle' Mr. Stark into helping other people as Iron Man."

"Me?" she laughed. "I didn't have anything to do with that."

"That's not what Agent Coulson's incident reports say," the android informed her. "He carefully recorded the number of times when you had to step in and push Tony in the right direction: Bosnia, South Africa, and St. Petersburg just to name a few. He credited you with encouraging Mr. Stark to get involved in each one of those. In fact, he admired your ability to deal with Mr. Stark, despite all of his 'lovable character flaws,' as Agent Coulson put it in one of his first reports on Stark. Even though you know how much of a playboy Mr. Stark was, you chose to enter into a relationship with him. Even though you knew how little Mr. Stark cares for running the company, you have managed to focus him well enough to keep the company going strong from the shadows. Despite Mr. Stark's narcissism, you have pushed him to help others and think of others before himself. Coulson's death may have been the catalyst that drove him to fight in Manhattan, but your influence was directly responsible for his selfless actions during the battle."

"Phil really thought that about me?" Pepper asked with a smile, sniffling back unbidden tears.

"Absolutely," Vision affirmed as they pulled into a parking lot one block away from the store. "In fact, I was telling the truth when I said that I think Phil Coulson would have approved of my creation if he knew I was going to be used to protect people he cared about."

"Thanks," the woman said quietly, parking the car and stepping out, followed by the android. She locked the doors and took off toward the store, bantering happily with Vision as though nothing had happened.

* * *

"What do you think of this dress?" Pepper asked, standing in front of a mirror and holding a dark green floor-length dress in front of herself for the android to inspect it.

"Mr. Stark's standard programming does not include fashion advice," Vision responded with an amused look, "and Agent Coulson's files suggest he was not a huge fan of fashion, either. Or at least not beyond the latest in men's black suits!"

"Hmm, I don't think I quite like the color," the woman said, ignoring the comment. She tossed the dress back on the cart and grabbed another one, this time light blue and thigh-length. "Perhaps this one?"

"Mr. Stark's standard programming does not include fashion advice," Vision responded again with another amused look, "and Agent Coulson's files suggest he was not a huge fan of fashion, either. As such, it would be inappropriate for me to comment."

"No, I really hate that length," Pepper said, choosing to ignore the android's comment yet again. She hung the dress back up and grabbed another one off the rack. She put it back in disgust. "No, wrong cut."

"Mr. Stark's standard programming does not include fashion advice," Vision responded with the same snarky answered for the third time, "and Agent Coulson's files suggest he was not a huge fan of fashion, either. As such, I cannot comment on the dress."

"You know, after an hour, that response is really starting to get annoying," Pepper commented absentmindedly.

"Mr. Stark's standard programming does not include fashion advice," Vision responded a fourth time, "and Agent Coulson's files suggest he was not a huge fan of fashion, either. As such, I cannot comment on the dress."

"I'm not holding a dress," she said, annoyed. "Tony programmed you to do go into sleep mode or something when I take you clothes shopping, didn't he?"

"Mr. Stark's standard programming—"

"Vision!"

"Yes, ma'am?" the android responded, blinking.

"Did Tony program you to be bored to tears by shopping?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's part of his standard programming to make his artificial intelligences appear less artificial. He gave me two standardized responses: This one for those who know I am an android, and 'I don't know; what do _you_ think, dear?' for when there are people around who do not know I am an android," he responded with a smirk.

"I see," Pepper said with a chuckle. "I may need to talk to him about that when we get back to the tower." She shrugged and picked up a blouse and pencil skirt. "What do you think of this combination?"

"Mr. Stark's standard programming does not include fashion advice," Vision replied monotonously, "and as such I have no comment on that matter."

"Of course you don't," Pepper muttered, turning back toward the clothes rack in front of her. "Why don't you go over and just stand by the door, or else go and look at the ties; I'll buy you a new one."

"Yes, Ms. Potts," Vision said, turning to walk toward the small men's clothing section. Pepper returned to her browsing before he was out of sight.

* * *

While the VISION android had told Ms. Potts that Mr. Stark had programmed it to "be bored to tears by shopping," that was only part of the story. The truth was that the android was merely using that programming as a pretext to follow its other programming. Mr. Stark had ordered it to be especially vigilant over Ms. Potts on this outing. The day before, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s electronic surveillance programs had picked up a number of e-mails suggesting a plan to attack the Avengers. Ms. Potts refused to take the threat seriously, instead believing that Tony was being excessively paranoid, but Director Fury had informed the Avengers that they considered it to be a legitimate threat.

Mr. Stark had not wanted to alarm Ms. Potts excessively by asking her not to go shopping, but he also did not want her leaving the tower alone. That was why he insisted that the VISION android accompany her on the outing.

As a result, the android had already started its preparations as soon as they arrived at the store. The minute it walked through the door, it approached the customer service desk to ask about a purchase that it thought its wife had made online a week before. While the sales associate was looking up the fake order number, VISION placed its left hand on the counter, deploying a hundred Stark Industries Slicebots from their special compartment in the android's palm. The microscopic nanobots crawled across the counter into a USB drive on the back of the computer, where they began electronically tunneling into the store's computer network.

A minute after the android left Ms. Potts to browse, it received an alert that the Slicebots had set up a remote backdoor wireless connection between VISION and the store's security camera system. The android immediately began monitoring the cameras and searching for potential blind spots. Because the store was not owned by a paranoid billionaire superhero (like Mr. Stark), it only took a matter of seconds to locate a number of areas in the store which were not covered by the security cameras. A pair of carefully-located lapel-pin-cameras removed several of those blind spots.

Once the android had reviewed the security situation of the store, he walked over to the men's ties selection to wait for Ms. Potts to finish shopping. He admired several of the ties before selecting a red, white, and blue one with Captain America's shield superimposed on it. He was chuckling at the Iron Man's mask bolo ties when his internal alert systems went off: His ever-present connection to JARVIS had been severed by a powerful wireless signal jammer.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Sorry I didn't upload this last night; I misplaced the flash drive I keep it on, and couldn't get to it until now. After this there are only 2 chapters left. Thanks to all those who have read, favorited, and reviewed this story.

* * *

"Sir, my connection to the VISION android has just been severed," JARVIS said.

"What?" Tony asked confusedly, looking up from the video game. His character was promptly killed by a grenade that Clint lobbed in his direction. With a curse, Tony paused the game.

"My wireless connection to VISION just cut out. My attempt to call Ms. Potts' cell phone went straight to voicemail, despite her proximity to the VISION android's wireless signal booster," JARVIS repeated.

"Possibilities?"

"Given the abruptness with which the connection was lost, the use of a signal jammer is most likely," JARVIS reported. "However, there is also the possibility that the VISION android was somehow taken offline simultaneously."

"Can you access the security camera feed from the store?"

"Negative. VISION had given us access to the store's network when they arrived, but that access was lost at the same time I lost contact with it."

"Can you check security cameras at nearby stores?" Rhodey spoke up.

"Affirmative," JARVIS said, as the game room television cut to the feed from several different store security cameras. Their view showed a pair of black SUVs parked outside the store which Pepper and Vision had visited, and a number of black-clad men climbing out of the vehicles. Bumps at their waists hinted at concealed handguns, and they could make out oddly-shaped lumps in the bags they were carrying which could only be the muzzles of assault rifles.

"That's a full tactical team there," Steve commented. "Anyone doubt what they're doing there and why they cut off wireless communications with that store?"

Tony jumped to his feet. "I've got to do something!" he shouted, running to the elevator to find his suit.

"Tony!" Steve called after him. "It won't do Pepper any good for you to go off half-cocked without backup and without knowing what you're running into. We need to have a plan of attack."

"Fine. What's your brilliant plan, O Fearless Leader?" Tony yelled back sarcastically. Nevertheless, the man stopped running before he reached the elevator.

"We don't know what's going on there, so I think we all need to go down there. But we can't leave the Tower unguarded; this could be a diversion so they can get to the Tower without us around," Steve said, considering. "JARVIS, what Avengers are in the city at present?"

"Apart from the seven of you, Power Man and Iron Fist are in their office three blocks from here, and I am detecting Moon Knight's helicopter landed in the Bronx," the A.I. responded promptly. "The S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier is still in dry dock in Maryland, so the rest of the Avengers are over an hour's flight away."

"Tell Moon Knight and the Heroes for Hire to get over here as soon as possible," Steve ordered. "Send Agent Hill an alert that there is an Avengers dependent in danger. Tell her to get the rest of Team B on a quinjet along with Scarlet Witch and Goliath; we'll probably handle it before they arrive, but I'd rather not go in without knowing we have a contingency plan again. War Machine, you need to stay here to guard the tower until the rest arrive. If there's more to this than our team can handle, you'll come in with your team to back us up.

"Team A, get ready, because we're leaving in two minutes. It's too close to take a quinjet, so Tony, do you think you and Thor can fly us there quickly?"

"Forget about that; we can just drive," Tony responded with a smirk.

"Tony, it's rush hour, and traffic is backed up from one end of the city to the other. It would take us longer to get there than that quinjet from Maryland!" Steve argued.

"You haven't seen our car," Tony responded simply.

* * *

The moment that he lost contact with JARVIS, Vision gave a command for his repair nanobots to work on increasing the strength of his wireless signal booster to counter the signal jammer. Unfortunately, the process would take several minutes due to the signal jammer's strength. He calmly slipped the Captain America tie into his pocket and began walking back to where he had left Pepper.

Vision's connection to the store's security system fortunately was not affected by the signal jammer, allowing him to monitor the store's entrance. Just as he reached Pepper, a pair of black SUVs pulled into the security camera's view. Even as he was pushing Pepper toward the back of the store, he saw a team of fifteen men step out of the vehicles, leaving a single man behind to guard their escape.

"What's going on?" Pepper asked, a hint of confused panic in her voice as the android shoved her into a changing room.

"I don't know," Vision said hurriedly. "A group of men is here with guns, and I don't like how quickly they got here after we did."

He quickly unscrewed a wall vent cover near the floor or the changing room with a screwdriver hidden in his finger, pried it out of the way, and gestured for Pepper to climb inside. Pepper took one look into the dirty, greasy vent, and shook her head. Not taking "no" for an answer, Vision pushed her into the vent backward so she could look out and made her slide back a foot from the entrance of the vent. He fixed the vent back into place and slipped a finger into the vent to melt the cover into place with his laser. Straightening up, the android checked the security cameras to locate the assault team.

The soldiers were all wearing earwigs and had split up into pairs. The leader was standing by the main entrance with a pair of soldiers to keep people out. Another pair had taken station on either side of the storage room door, with the five other pairs searching the store, assault rifles at the ready.

* * *

Captain America met Dr. Banner, Hawkeye, and Black Widow in the Avengers parking area less than two minutes after they had learned about the kidnapping attempt against Pepper. Thor and Iron Man had already suited up and were flying around the Tower in circles, waiting to leave with the others.

"So this thing is supposed to get us there in less than an hour?" Steve said, eyeing the red Humvee doubtfully. "What are we going to do, drive over the cars?"

"Trust me," Clint said, slipping into the driver's seat and hitting the ignition button, "This thing has some tricks up its sleeve."

Natasha climbed in the back seat and raised the roof hatch to take the gunner position. Dr. Banner sat down on the seat next to her gunner's perch, uncomfortable with taking part in the rescue attempt. Still not convinced, Steve took the front passenger's seat and activated his communicator to open the hidden exit.

As soon as the call had come in, JARVIS had signaled an alert in the parking garage to clear it out. By the time the Avengers were ready to leave, there was no one left in the garage to watch the wall of the parking space labeled "Reserved for Mr. Stark" begin to open inward. Before the door was fully open, Clint had already hit the accelerator and burst out through the barely-wide-enough opening.

The Avengers' Humvee tore through the parking garage at top speed as Clint expertly maneuvered the vehicle to the exit. The Avengers shot out of the exit ramp so fast that the wheels left the ground. Before the Humvee came back down to the ground on top of the black sedan below it, however, Clint hit a red button on the steering wheel. The wheels folded out sideways parallel to the ground, and began spinning rapidly as hover foils, creating an air cushion below the vehicle. The Humvee's rear lights twisted away, revealing a pair of thrusters which activated and propelled the vehicle forward down the street.

"What is this thing?" Steve asked in surprise as he felt the thrusters kick in.

Tony's smug voice responded through the communicator, "It's called a 'Hover-Vee.' I designed it for the Army a couple years ago to use in Iraq as a way to avoid IEDs. It can either drive on the ground or hover up to 20 feet above the ground. I stopped military production of it before the first batch were even done when I shut down the weapons manufacturing section of Stark Industries, but Director Fury convinced me to restart production of them last year for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers to use."

"You sure know your technology, Tony," Steve said appreciatively.

"Glad you approve, Cap," the other man said snidely. Thor and Iron Man dropped down to take positions on either side of the Hover-Vee. "Now can we get back to saving my girlfriend?"

* * *

The VISION android moved silently through the besieged store. Less than two minutes after the soldiers had entered, one of the patrons had noticed them and screamed. The leader had let off a burst from his AK-47 into the ceiling, effectively silencing everyone in the store. As soon as he had shot, he had demanded that the patrons lie down on the ground and be quiet. Now the only people moving around were the fifteen attackers and the lone android.

Vision's processors had determined the enemy radio frequency almost immediately, allowing him to hear everything that they were saying.

"_How hard is it to find a tall redhead in a department store?_" the leader's voice demanded.

"_Almost everyone in here is a woman, and about half have red hair, sir,_" replied another voice.

"_Well, she can't have escaped; we locked the place down too quickly for that_," the leader declared. "_Sweep the place from front to back. No one gets past you_."

Vision watched as the assailants abandoned their sweep in concentric circles and regrouped along the front wall. The ten men fanned out and began walking through the store in a straight line. Seeing an opportunity, Vision ducked behind a particularly large display. When one of the gunmen walked past him, he was temporarily hidden from his companions by the display, and Vision did not hesitate. He reached out with his hand and grabbed the man's chest with his right hand. A pair of electrodes penetrated the man's clothing and made contact with his skin. Before he could cry out, electricity coursed through his body, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious. Vision dragged the man into a clothing rack nearby and hid him in the middle, silently thanking Mr. Stark for giving him a Taser.

"_Hey, what happened to Joe?_" a voice asked several minutes later. "_He walked behind that display, and hasn't come out yet._"

"_Check it out_."

Vision stealthily switched hiding spots and watched a black-clad figure jog over to look at the perfume display. He looked around, checking in between some of the racks, then turned toward the door and shrugged.

"_It's like he just disappeared or something_."

Vision consulted the security cameras, which showed the leader looking right at the man who was standing right next to Vision's location. As soon as the leader's back was turned, he reached out again and tased the man who had gone to look for his companion. This one, however, did not go down silently. Because Vision had only grabbed his leg, the electrical current did not immediately make him lose consciousness. The man screamed in surprised pain before collapsing in a heap on the floor. With a smirk, Vision wrote a message on the man's chest in white ink: "I SEE YOU."

Vision heard the pounding of several pairs of combat boots converging on his location with his back to the perfume display. Before they could see him, he quickly phased through the display and found himself crouching in the same space occupied by the matching luggage sets resting against the other side of the perfume display.

"_What the hell just happened!?_" the leader's voice demanded.

"I don't know, but Franklin isn't here, Jones is unconscious, and there's nobody around who could have done it," came the answer from the other side of the display board.

"Something weird is going on here, sir," another voice said from the same direction.

"I knew trying to capture Iron Man's assistant was a bad idea," a third voice said fearfully. "We're gonna get killed!"

"_Shut up!_" snarled the leader. "_He's paying us to get the job done, and if we _don't_ get it done, we _are_ going to be killed!_"

The leader's voice was suddenly amplified as he shouted into the store's PA system: "Okay, whoever just attacked my men, show yourself! You know I've got hostages, so you'd better believe I'm going to waste a few if you don't surrender in the next 30 seconds! 29… 28…"

Vision's gaze hardened as he deactivated his cover disguise. _So they want to play? Then let's play!_


	12. Chapter 12

AN: 1 chapter left. I'll try to get it out around the same time tomorrow. Thanks to all who read, reviewed, etc., this story.

* * *

Vision rose out of the luggage display as he stood up to his full height. As soon as his torso was out, he activated his flight stabilizers and rose to hover a foot above the luggage.

Cries of surprise and terror rang out all around him as his head appeared above the luggage. He ignored the other gunmen and stared directly into the leader's startled eyes. The store's security cameras showed that all twelve other gunmen had their assault rifles up to their shoulders and pointed directly at Vision.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded the leader furiously, though there was a note of fear in his voice.

"_I am the VISION_," he responded through the assault team's radio system without moving his mouth. The gunmen all jumped back in surprise at that. "_I can see all of you, but you only think that you are seeing me_."

"Oh? Nice magic trick; you can play with our radios. But can you dodge bullets?" the leader laughed, simultaneously raising his AK-47 and pulling the trigger. A three-round burst left the rifle's muzzle and impacted with the android's chest less than a second later—and continued through him without any effect, only stopping when they connected with the head of one of the men standing behind him, who fell to the ground as blood poured from the bullet holes. The other men stared at Vision in shock as the leader's grip on his rifle loosened.

At a gesture from the leader, three of the attackers moved around to flank Vision on the right. Vision watched them move on the security cameras while his eyes were still pointed directly at the group's leader. At another signal from the leader, the three men moved to shoot at Vision. Before they could, however, Vision turned the flight stabilizer in his right palm on a clothes rack directly in front of them. The rack burst into flames, masking Vision from the three men. The android suddenly deactivated the Pym Particles, activated his boot thrusters, and launched himself in the men's direction. Before they could regroup, he was flying through the cloud of smoke directly at them.

Vision deactivated the flight stabilizer on his right palm, increased that fist's density, and brought it crashing down on one of the men's heads. He dropped to the floor immediately. Using the altered flight pattern caused by deactivating one stabilizer to his advantage, Vision rolled over in midair, did a back flip, and dropped to the floor in a crouch behind the other two men facing them, grabbed each of them by one leg, and rose to his feet, upending them in the process. He swung them in the air so they both crashed into a pillar behind him. He dropped them to the floor, where they lay in a heap, groaning and clutching their chests. Vision turned around to admire his handiwork.

A man standing behind Vision grabbed a grenade from his flak vest, pulled out the pin, and lobbed it in Vision's direction. It barely left the man's hand before Vision turned his right arm in that direction without looking and launched a wrist-mounted low payload missile which connected with the grenade and caused it to detonate in a shower of shrapnel. The tiny metal particles fell onto a table full of perfume in front of the man, shattering several bottles and causing the perfume to splash back onto the man who had thrown the grenade. The rocket's momentum carried some of the explosive power into the man's face. He fell to the ground screaming in agony.

"_You thought I wouldn't see that, didn't you?_" Vision's mocking voice rang through their radio system. "_But I see everything_."

* * *

The Avengers Hover-Vee flew over the rush hour traffic at a height of 15 feet above the ground, Iron Man and Thor keeping pace above. Clint swerved expertly to avoid a low-hanging electric wire. He spun the modified Humvee into a sharp turn down the correct street. Clint was paying so much attention to piloting the unfamiliar vehicle that he nearly missed the glint of light reflecting off of something on the roof of a building a block away from the store.

* * *

"_Boss, this is Overwatch. We have incoming Avengers. ETA 1 minute_," a new voice said over the assault team's radios.

"_Overwatch, can you keep them busy for a few minutes? We have not completed the mission yet_," the leader ordered.

"_Negative. It looks like all six Avengers are here. One or two I could deal with easily, but not all of them_," came the reply.

"_He's going to be angry that we failed, sir_," one of the team members said nervously.

"_We need to be alive for him to get angry at us_," the leader decided. "_Evacuate. Everyone back to the cars_."

All eight uninjured gunmen turned and ran for the doors. As soon as they did so, however, Vision activated his thrusters and launched himself after them, firing every weapon he had simultaneously. He poured sun fire after them, melting down the bullets they fired backwards at him wildly in their panic. Missile detonations at their feet tripped three of them up. One fell headfirst into a clothes rack while the other two got their legs tied up as they dodged into each other to avoid the shoulder-mounted missiles. The last four gunmen and the leader screamed in terror as they burst out through the storefront windows in a rain of glass shards.

* * *

The Avengers were stunned when they arrived in front of the store just in time for the full-length storefront windows to explode in a shower of glass as five men wielding singed AK-47s jumped through them. The curbside doors of the first black Suburban parked in front of the store opened automatically when the five men were about a step away. Captain America watched in amusement as the men dove through the openings and landed in a jumbled heap on the bench seats. Before the doors had even closed, the SUV had already begun accelerating away from the curb, despite the heavy traffic. Car horns blared as drivers swerved to avoid colliding with the madly-driven SUV.

"You go after them!" Cap shouted to Hawkeye, opening his passenger-side door. "We'll stay here and clean up inside!"

Bruce followed the Captain's example, opening his door and jumping the 15 feet to the sidewalk. The two men landed on their feet and rolled to lessen the force of the impact. Cap easily rolled back onto his feet in the same motion. Bruce needed a moment to pull himself shakily back up, pushing down a flare of anger at the pain as he did so, before the two Avengers strode purposefully into the store side-by-side. Thor and Iron Man landed next to them and fell in step as all four men walked through the store's front entrance.

* * *

The Avengers' Hover-Vee, meanwhile, had not slowed down while Cap and Bruce jumped out, but had begun pursuing the fleeing SUV. The vehicle weaved in and out of traffic, trying vainly to lose its airborne pursuer.

The SUV driver suddenly hopped the curb to cut around a group of stopped cars, narrowly missing a girl and her mother, who had to jump out of the way at the last minute. The Hover-Vee didn't lose sight of the SUV because of the maneuver, though Clint's knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel tighter in rage.

The Hover-Vee's scanner zeroed in on the radio frequency that the enemy team was using. Clint thumbed the radio and said, "You can't hope to lose us or outrun us. Give up now and end this chase before someone gets hurt."

The SUV's rear window slid down. If Clint weren't so highly trained, he might have thought the enemy was going to surrender. Any hopes either agent had of that outcome were dashed, however, when a pair of AK-47 barrels were stuck out the window, pointed in their direction.

Clint slowed down and dropped abruptly to avoid the barrage of fire. The bullets flew harmlessly above them, hitting the wall of an office building behind them. At the same time, the SUV turned sharply right into an underground parking garage, crashing through the security bar.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Clint said to himself with a wicked grin.

He activated the Hover-Vee's ground-penetrating radar and followed the SUV's course through the parking structure. Consulting the building's plans showed that the exit the SUV was heading towards was on the other side of the building. Clint veered right to navigate the Hover-Vee through the miniscule space between the building the SUV was in and the adjacent one. He got through the opening with a minute to spare, and took a position directly in front of the exit from which the enemy SUV was going to emerge. Natasha warmed up the gun turret.

Less than a minute later, the Suburban came barreling through the opening out of the parking garage, its wheels leaving the ground as it did so. The driver could see daylight, but not for long. Almost immediately a shadow came between him and the sun. He looked up and saw the flying red Humvee directly in front of him, its gun turret already firing. He had a moment to scream before the sky in front of him turned white.

White energy poured out of the Hover-Vee's gun, incinerating the SUV before it even hit the ground.

"Well, we warned them," Clint observed to Natasha, whose only response was a devilish smirk.

* * *

"They have a sniper out there!" Vision shouted as four Avengers stormed through the door into the store.

"What happened?" Iron Man demanded as he walked toward his security android and looked around to survey the extensive damage to the inside of the store. As soon as Vision mentioned the sniper, however, Thor flew back out the door to begin the search

"It was a 17-man team," the android responded briskly. "The team leader entered the store with a 14-man assault team, leaving a driver and a sniper outside. Before they reached the store, however, they activated a wireless signal jammer, alerting me to the impending attack. As soon as my wireless connection to JARVIS was terminated, I hid Ms. Potts to keep her away from the enemy, which was a good thing because they were here to take her hostage on someone else's orders. I worked to buy you some time to come and rescue us by using guerilla warfare. I didn't know if they had backup, so I was hesitant to just finish them off without learning more. Five members of the assault team escaped in that black SUV, along with their driver. The other ten men are in here, dead or subdued. Hopefully one of them can 'explain' what happened."

"But Pepper is safe?" Tony asked worriedly.

"Yes, sir. She is hidden inside an air vent in one of the changing rooms. She is going to be pretty dirty, but completely okay," the android confirmed.

Tony immediately walked over to the changing rooms. JARVIS showed him Pepper's location, and he started breaking his way through the melted-on vent cover to get to her. Captain America, meanwhile, began the process of rounding up the prisoners, disarming them, and binding their hands. As he was doing that, Bruce moved over to the far wall where all the hostages were sitting and began checking them for injuries. Fortunately, Vision had kept the assault team occupied too well for them to hurt anyone beyond a couple burns and a ricochet round. Several minutes later, NYPD officers arrived to take charge of the prisoners.

While this was going on, Vision flew out through the shattered windows to join Thor in searching for the sniper. Vision's triangulation software had already given him a good idea of where the last radio signal had originated from. However, by the time Thor and Vision narrowed their search down and reached the correct rooftop, the sniper had already escaped. He left nothing behind that could be used to trace him. After searching and scanning the rooftop for over an hour, the two were forced to admit defeat and rejoin to the other Avengers, who had already returned to Avengers Tower.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Here's the end... or is it? I am planning to write a sequel to this one and my other one, but I haven't started writing yet. Don't know when it will come out, but hopefully in a week or two I'll get enough written to start publishing it. Thanks to all those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the plot of this story. The characters belong to Marvel. Actually, the sniper's call-sign came from another FF author, Aggie2011, who made that Phil Coulson's call-sign. Her stories are some of the best on this site; definitely check them out if you like Hawkeye.

_Updated to fix the sniper rifle's name from "dragonov" to "Dragunov", add the disclaimer, change the description of the Avengers' backup helicopter, and add Moon Knight's helicopter._

* * *

As Thor and Vision alighted on the penthouse landing pad, they barely noted the second quinjet parked on the extendable landing pad several floors below them alongside the Avengers' own quinjet and a small Huey helicopter with interchangeable weaponry and rescue pods. They had to take a closer look at the strange white helicopter sitting next to the other vehicles before entering the tower. However, when they walked into the penthouse and greeted the assembled group, they received a huge shock. Seventeen people were sitting around the fireplace: All the members of the Avengers Initiative (except the ever-reclusive Doctor Strange), a showered and changed Pepper Potts, Agent Hill, and—

"So _this_ is the android that Director Fury was telling me about!" the last man laughed, rising from his wheelchair and walking over to meet the two new arrivals. "He doesn't look a thing like me!"

Thor's booming voice reverberated through the room as he happily bellowed, "So the brave son of Coul lives!"

"Of course I live, 'Donald,'" Agent Coulson said, raising his eyebrow. "Didn't think you could get rid of me _that_ easily, did you?"

"I have to say, Phil," Tony butted in, "I would have thought that getting stabbed through the chest with an alien scepter would be pretty permanent."

"Oh, it is," Phil grimaced, unbuttoning the top four buttons of his shirt to reveal a long, nasty scar. "This thing is going to be here forever to remind me of your brother, Thor."

"I deeply apologize for my brother's actions, my brave friend," Thor said apologetically. "I hope that his actions have not irreparably damaged your opinion of my people."

"On the contrary, I admire your people more because you were so willing to fight for us against your own brother. I am honored to fight alongside you," Phil said with a smile. "Now Stark, you still haven't answered my question: This green-and-gold thing is supposed to look like me?"

"Not right now I'm not," Vision responded with a smirk, activating his disguise function. "But how about now?"

Phil Coulson stared at his android doppelganger as the suit settled into place, complete with his new Captain America tie (paid for after the battle with Mr. Stark's credit card), hiding his android nature. The gauntlets retracted, revealing human-looking hands. The facial covering fell down to cover the android's dark red face, and Phil was looking at his own identical twin (apart from the tie) standing in front of him. He reached out his right hand; the android reached out his left. He cocked his head to the left; his android cocked his head to the right. Phil opened his mouth to speak; the android did the same. "Nice tie," he complimented. Turning to Tony, he said, "He's definitely realistic enough. Now what can he do?"

"JARVIS?"

A hidden panel retracted above the fireplace, revealing a flat screen TV. JARVIS cued up the tower's training floor video footage from two weeks ago when Clint and Vision had sparred for the first time. Phil concentrated on the two fighters carefully, commenting on Vision's fighting style. "You know, I actually would have gone for a different choke hold at the end there to immobilize his legs, but that did the trick."

"It's the same thing you did in your last sparring match with him before the New Mexico assignment," Vision argued.

"True," the other acknowledged. "So what else have you got?"

The screen went blank for a moment as JARVIS recalled the security footage from the previous week when the assault team had attacked the lobby. Nineteen pairs of eyes followed the dozen gunmen as they entered the lobby and began firing into the ceiling. A split screen showed a second camera angle of Vision leaping from the Bruce's lab floor out the window. The android performed a midair transformation as he plummeted alongside the tower. Phil grinned in appreciation as he watched that particular move.

Suddenly, the two screens merged as the android's thrusters kicked in and sent him flying through the window. He careened into two soldiers as another five fell under a barrage of shoulder-mounted missiles. The information desk exploded in a shower of debris as Vision killed three more enemies who had taken refuge behind it with a wrist-mounted missile. The screen split once again as Hawkeye and Black Widow emerged from the elevator. Hawkeye already had two arrows nocked, which he released the instant the elevator doors opened. Each arrow found its mark in the left eye socket of one of the two remaining gunmen. The recording paused.

"Very impressive," Coulson said, nodding appreciatively. "You've got some good moves there, twin. I especially like the clothesline move."

"That's nothing; you should see my sun fire blast."

"Oh?"

"Remember that gun you like so much in New Mexico, Phil?" Clint asked. "The one you tried using on Loki? He's got that in his forehead."

"I'm jealous!" Phil laughed.

"You want to lie down on the operating table in my workshop? Because I could definitely whip something up for you if you are interested!" Tony offered, smirking.

Turning back toward the television screen and away from the banter, Clint suddenly spotted a glint on one of the screens. "Hang on. JARVIS, can you zoom in on the rooftop three blocks down and two buildings in on screen two?"

"What do you see?" Steve asked, suddenly intent and businesslike as usual, staring at the spot in question.

"I'm not sure, but it looked like the scope of a Dragunov sniper rifle. You can tell by the reflective angle," Clint responded, still studying the spot on the screen in front of him. "JARVIS, can you bring up the security feed from this afternoon? Say, about a block away from the store along our route from the tower?"

The television screen split into two views, the left showing the footage from the assault the week before and the right showing security footage along the team's route that day. "That's it… there," Clint said as the rooftop in question came into sight.

Everyone could see clearly that the sunlight was reflecting off of a tiny glass object on the roof in question on each screen. JARVIS zoomed in further and clarified the pixilated image, and they could just make out a vague outline lying on each roof with a sniper rifle pointed toward the tower and the department store respectively.

"I noticed the reflection today on the drive over there, but didn't think to stop and check it out," Clint said angrily.

Natasha dismissed his self-reproach. "We had far more important things on our minds at the time. No one else would have even _noticed_ it, let alone been able to identify it."

Marc Spector added, "Considering how hard those Mark-I Hover-Vees are to fly, even noticing that glint was a stroke of luck, Barton."

Tony put his hand up to silence everyone around him. With his hand he stroked his chin, thought, and said, "So both the assault team last week and the assault team this week had a sniper…"

"And in both cases the sniper used a Dragunov sniper rifle and showed a preference for a vantage point over 200 meters from the target on top of a roof 4 stories above the ground, with a right-handed 30-degree angle toward the target," Clint supplied. "If you look at the gilly suit the sniper is wearing, in both cases he used exactly the same material and almost the same pattern, with minor variations for the specific perch. If I had to guess, I would say that it was the same sniper both times."

"So let me get this straight," Agent Hill spoke up for the first time that evening. "The Avengers have been indirectly attacked twice now about a week apart, and it was most likely done by the same group each time? Why are we only putting it together now?"

"Not the same _group_, but the same _sniper_," Phil said. "No one from the first assault team escaped except the sniper; same thing today. No one had any reason to suspect the first team had outside assistance during that assault; my lookalike did too good a job on them for the sniper to react quickly enough to have any effect on the outcome."

"But the coincidence is too great for it to mean anything other than that whoever was behind the first attack was also behind the second. He probably sent the sniper to keep an eye on things with both attempts," Rhodes responded seriously.

"So now only one question remains," Steve said authoritatively, with a meaningful glance at all those gathered around the room.

"'Who tried to kidnap me?'" Pepper supplied nervously.

* * *

The sniper activated his communicator two klicks from the department store. Thumbing the appropriate frequency, he made his report. "The Avengers responded far more quickly than we expected they would. We thought that cutting off wireless communication would delay the Avengers' response, but it actually may have somehow alerted them to the attack. It was approximately five minutes into the attack when the flying Humvee arrived on the scene, but they already had someone there in the store protecting the target before we arrived. The assault team never even got eyes on her."

"_Don't worry about it_," a man responded on the other end. "_Each of these so-called failures has really brought us closer to success. We now know far more about Anthony's defenses than we did before. With this new information, the next assault is bound to succeed. Next time it will work._"

"Yes, sir. Overwatch out."


End file.
